


how can we be lovers (if we can't be friends)

by lynnearlington



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Sports, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, a whole lot less about hockey and a whole lot more about known idiots trying not to fall in love, all while pretending to be in love, another self-indulgent trope fest, kara plays hockey and lena tutors her, what rhymes with puck me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-02-16 19:29:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 30,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18697774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynnearlington/pseuds/lynnearlington
Summary: “Lena Luthor, right?” Kara says and Lena’s lips thin. Her ego scoffs at the idea that Kara doesn’t know who she is. Besides having had a class together every semester since freshman year, Lena’s a fairly known entity on campus if only because of her family, just the same as Kara and her goon teammates are well-known.“I see your reading skills are intact. Nice to meet you,” she says sarcastically.The tragic, amusing, altogether shocking story of how Lena Luthor agrees to tutor an idiot hockey player and, somehow, ends up with a fake girlfriend.





	1. september

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks, as always, to [@mooosicaldreamz](http://mooosicaldreamz.tumblr.com/) for fixing my grammar and giving me endless encouragement when I have last minute panic attacks and threaten to delete everything I've written. 
> 
> I've made a few little tweaks to the way women's hockey works that aren't all that important, but just a warning: there are lots of technical inaccuracies within. This also, as all my sports fics do, requires a suspension of disbelief in regards to the popularity of women's sports. (I hope one day that sentence gets completely outdated)

Lena sees her tutoring assignment for that semester and her eyes nearly bug out of her head. A bolded _Kara Danvers, Section 3B_ stares back at her in some kind of mockery.

It’s not that she has a problem with Kara Danvers necessarily. She’s never actually met her face to face despite having been in at least one class together nearly every semester. All Lena knows of Kara is her reputation, and she’d rather not spend her semester trying to get some dumb jock to understand a physics class she’ll probably get gifted a passing grade in anyway.

At least she plays a tolerable sport - hockey - and not something insufferable like basketball or soccer. Lena’s seen those athletes around campus before, has even made the regrettable decision to attend a party at the soccer house when Lana was dating their star midfielder. The night involved some very questionable MDMA, a soccer ball kicked at Lena's face and a one-night stand with her organic chemistry TA. It's not something she likes to remember. Hockey players were notorious morons, but at least they weren’t known for anything more severe than a couple of all-out brawls on their front lawn.

For a few moments while she stares at the corkboard with the list of tutoring assignments, Lena ponders the virtue of requesting a trade. It seems like a decent idea until she spots Jack’s partner - _Beth Breen, Section 2C_ \- and realizes that things could be worse. At least she’s not meant to tutor someone that’s all but stalked her for two years. A heavy dose of amusement has her smothering a laugh as she turns away from the board and texts her friend.

_did you see who you’re tutoring this semester?_

Jack’s reply is quick - he’s supposed to be in the middle of some pass/fail English elective, but Lena knows he never pays attention. _I hope it’s Mike Matthews and his two total brain cells just for a fucking laugh._

Lena shakes her head, takes a delight in texting him: _Nope. Just your number one fan._

 _Shit_ is all Jack sends back and if Lena wasn’t busy searching for an appropriate gif to send him in reply she might have been paying better attention to where she was walking. As it is, she’s got her focus on her phone and _usually_ the Academic Affairs building is abandoned at this time of the day, but just as she’s found a great gif of a dancing baby to send him, she turns a corner and runs into something tall and hard.

“Fucking hell,” she spits out, agitated at being bumped backward into a stumble. Her irritation deepens when she looks up to see what she’s run into and sees none other than Kara Danvers, grinning stupidly at her. “Watch where you’re going.”

Kara’s smile doesn’t waver in that irritating, unflappable way she has. Lena’s seen her enough around campus to be familiar with it. In the classes they’ve shared, there’s never been an ounce of panic on Kara’s face when she gets startled into answering a question. The only difference right now is that Kara’s face is mostly obscured by a low baseball cap with the school logo on it and sunglasses. Who the hell wears sunglasses inside? _Assholes_ , Lena thinks.

“Sorry,” Kara says, looking and sounding anything but as she shrugs a shoulder and pulls the strap of her backpack up further. “Didn’t expect anyone to be here.”

Lena rolls her eyes and adjusts the messenger bag slug across her body. “Whatever, just watch where you’re going,” she repeats.

“I’m Kara,” Kara says suddenly, thrusting her hand out between them and Lena feels her eyebrows shooting straight into her forehead.

“Yeah,” Lena says, drawing the word out into an unimpressed tone. “I know who you are.”

It’s the wrong thing to say. Kara’s grin goes the kind of smug that Lena’d like to smack off her face, but she channels the feeling into ignoring Kara’s outstretched hand and walking past her. Maybe not the best course of action in dealing with someone she’s going to have to see regularly all semester, but Lena’s far beyond caring about anything other than her annoyance at the moment.

“Nice to meet you too!” Kara calls out past her, but Lena doesn’t turn to give her the satisfaction of a response.

\--

Thankfully, Lena doesn’t have to see Kara until their first scheduled tutoring session - a formal meeting set in one of the study rooms in the library, so they can square away some housekeeping tasks.

It gives her a week to ignore how much she’s dreading the entire thing and she fills it with getting her semester organized and hanging out with her friends.

“The best thing you can do is just be positive and get through it,” Jack says, sprawled across her couch and scrolling through something on his phone. “It’s just going to be worse if you’re all pissy about it the entire time.”

“I’m not sure I know how _not_ to be,” Lena admits and Jack laughs.

“You could always just not do it,” Jess says, coming into the room with the cheese plate she’d been arranging in the kitchen. She’s serving it on a cutting board with _Grandma’s Kitchen_ carved into the wood. “It’s not like you _need_ the money, you snooty bitch.”

“But, Jess, how would she piss her mother off by having an independent stream of income with which she can order all her sex toys without oversight?” Jack replies with a put-on snotty tone that has Lena swatting at the legs he has draped across her lap. “It’s also the only job in town Lillian Luthor doesn’t have her dirty fingers in.”

Lena makes a face at that, but Jess laughs.

“You could be a stripper,” Jess teases, laughing again when Jack makes a show of gasping as if scandalized and Lena just rolls her eyes.

“I think they’re hiring at the Kitty Cat Club,” Jack says, full body chuckling at the thought until Lena pinches him hard in the calf.

Jess takes a seat on the floor in front of Jack and cranes her neck to look at his phone, grabbing it suddenly. “I take it back,” she says, her finger scrolling on the screen and smile looking ominous. “Who wouldn’t want to tutor her?”

The phone is suddenly thrust in her direction and her eyes focus on the Instagram page they have open - a picture of Kara stares back at her and it’s not a flattering one. Lena makes a face as she takes in Kara’s ridiculous expression, red cheeks, backwards cap and the red solo cup she has vaulted towards the camera. “You’re making it worse,” Lena says, pushing the phone out of the way and laughing.

“Come on, she’s not that bad,” Jack insists, plucking the phone from Jess’s hands and sliding his finger across it until he’s showing Lena a second picture. This one is more put together, but not by much. It’s clearly the Fourth of July - or at least Lena hopes it is, judging by the obnoxious American flag tank top Kara’s sporting along with matching board shorts and flip flops. She’s got her arm slung around two other girls that are both holding mini flags and beers in their hands and they’re all three grinning at the camera.

“Yikes,” is all Lena can say as her friends laugh at her misfortune.

\--

Her mother calls her at six in the morning on Saturday because Lillian never forsakes an opportunity to torture Lena. The ringing of her phone pulls her out of a particularly nice dream involving a girl she met in Cyprus two summers ago.

“Good morning,” she says, grateful her voice doesn’t sound too muted by sleep. Lillian would surely pounce on the implication she hadn’t been awake and attacking the day already. _Luthors work, Lena. They don’t sleep._

“Lena, I’ve heard a nasty rumor that you’re continuing working at the _learning_ _center_ ,” Lillian says, voice dripping with disdain on the last two words. Lena can imagine the haughty look on her face just fine and she debates the virtue of just hanging up and dealing with the consequences after she’s had a few cups of coffee.

“You’ve heard correctly,” Lena tells her, knowing it’s sometimes easier to just remain straightforward when faced with Lillian’s never-ending disappointment.

“I _know_ that your brother convinced Maxwell Lord to offer you a junior position in his R&D department,” Lillian says. “Surely that’s more fulfilling than tutoring the lowlifes of Vandermeer.”

“It’s good money, Mother,” Lena interrupts, already having rehearsed this speech in her own head when she and Jack renewed their tenure as student tutors.  

“What on earth do you need money for?” Lillian spits, incredulous at the idea Lena’d like to _earn_ her pay rather than dip into the family coffers.

“My heroin addiction,” she replies dryly, wincing as she says it but unable to take it back. Best to cut her losses and run. “We’ll talk about it later. Have a good Saturday, _Mom_.”

It’s snotty, but Lena’s already deep in a hole at this point so she promptly hangs up over her mother’s objections and throws her phone towards a chair across the room.

\--

The first tutoring session falls on a Tuesday at 8pm to accommodate Kara’s practice schedule. Lena doesn’t generally mind tutoring at the end of the day, but her annoyance prickles anyway when the academic advisor for the hockey team sends over Kara’s availability.

She gets there early enough to make sure their room is open and takes a few minutes to get settled - gets a coffee from the shop on the first level and makes sure her laptop is plugged in and running properly. Anything other than sit in the room and wait for the dreaded moment Kara shows up.

When the clock ticks to eight, then to five minutes past and Kara’s still not there, Lena thinks maybe Kara’s no showing. It starts to lift her spirits just the slightest - particularly the idea of reporting her - until she hears a knock on the wood door and it’s opening to reveal Kara’s form ambling into the room.

That same irritatingly smug smile is on Kara’s face along with the same worn baseball cap and sunglasses and she closes the door behind her casually like Lena’s time doesn’t matter and it’s totally fine that she’s arrived late. She’s dressed more appropriate for bed than a library - a pair of sweatpants and a large sweatshirt with hockey laces at the neck. Not to mention the boat shoes worn so far down that her socks are showing through at the toe.

“You’re late,” Lena tells her as Kara pulls the chair back next to Lena and drops down into it.

Kara looks at the obnoxious lime green calculator watch on her wrist and back up at Lena, her smile never faltering. It makes Lena frown. “Sorry. Practice ran late and then dinner ran late and -” Kara sits forward in her chair, twisting to get a better look at Lena. “You’re the girl I ran into in the academic affairs building.”

Lena arches a brow, fiddles with the pencil she has on the desk. “I’m your tutor.”

“Lena Luthor, right?” Kara says and Lena’s lips thin. Her ego scoffs at the idea that Kara doesn’t know who she is. Besides having had a class together every semester since freshman year, Lena’s a fairly known entity on campus if only because of her family, just the same as Kara and her goon teammates are well-known.

“I see your reading skills are intact. Nice to meet you,” she says sarcastically. “Don’t be late next time. And if you are, contact me ahead of time.”

Kara makes a face like she’s trying not to laugh - though Lena can’t entirely tell as most of her face is obscured. It irritates her enough that she reaches up to pull the hat off Kara’s head by its brim. Long blonde hair drops out of the hat and around Kara’s face and a waft of shampoo hits Lena’s nose. Kara startles a little, the phone she’s dropping on the table clattering against the wood.

“Also, no hats or sunglasses in here,” Lena says, throwing the hat across the table with a pointed look and trying to ignore the pleasant, fresh smell of Kara’s hair.

With a shrug, Kara pulls her sunglasses off. “Suit yourself,” she says and as her face is revealed Lena realizes the actual purpose of her disguise. There’s massive bruising all over Kara’s left eye, a cut held together with butterfly tape over her eyebrow and her face just a general mess, more obvious now as Kara pulls her hair back up off her shoulders and into a bun. There’s another bandage just under her eye over her cheekbone and she looks almost unrecognizable from the posters Lena’s seen around school.

“Did you get into a fight or something?” Lena vaguely remembers a video going viral on campus last year of Kara getting into a fight at the hockey house, complete with a memorable image of the two combatants tumbling into a castle composed of beer cans.

Kara makes a face. “Fighting is super illegal in college hockey, you get a game disqualification.”

“That’s not what I -” Lena stops herself. She really doesn’t care what Kara did to fuck her face up that badly. “It doesn’t matter, let’s get started.”

“I got hit in the face with a puck,” Kara explains anyway.

“Don’t you wear…” Lena gestures over her eyes, trying to think of the word and then realizing what she’s doing a moment later and ceasing her motion.

Kara laughs. “Yeah, but it was after practice,” she says, settling back into her chair and pulling a notebook out of the bag she’d dropped next to her chair. “Sam and I - she’s my winger - were doing a snipe contest and she was trying to hit a bar down but it sort of went bar out and hit me in the face. Blood everywhere.”

“Charming,” Lena says, shaking her head, but laughing just the softest at Kara’s explanation. “Why don’t we get some preliminaries out of the way?”

“Sure,” Kara agrees, opening her notebook and fishing in one of her pockets for a pen. Lena opens up her calendar on her laptop, but glances over to see Kara writing something down in her notebook.

 _Don’t be late_ , is scrawled there in nearly illegible handwriting and Lena makes a noise.

“What?” Kara says, not even looking her direction as she starts to write _no hats, no sunglasses_ under it. “Just making sure I have all your rules straight.”

“Being timely is just having good manners,” Lena says testily and that at least draws Kara’s attention.

There’s something genuine on her face, but Lena can’t quite make it out through all the purple and yellow skin around her eye. “I’m sorry about being late. Seriously. Sometimes my schedule just gets thrown off like that. I’ll be better about letting you know as much as I can.”

It’s more sincere than Lena expects and maybe that’s why she has no snarky response for it. She accepts the apology with a soft nod. “Okay.”

They go over their schedules, settle on Thursdays as a good meeting time - before Kara has games on the weekend and usually the day of the week she has the lightest practice. When a discussion of where they should hold their sessions, Lena immediately suggests neutral on-campus sites, but Kara makes a face at that.

“Do you live on campus?” Kara asks, twirling her pen around in her hand absently.

“No,” Lena answers immediately, unable to stop the curl of distaste in her expression at the memory of the one semester she spent in a small, cramped campus dorm room. Just thinking about it makes the smell of burnt popcorn return to her nose.

“Where _do_ you live?” Kara asks and Lena hesitates at disclosing her apartment’s location. It’s only fifteen minutes away, in a fresh new condo building.

“Off-campus,” she says in a deadpan that has Kara frowning, but laughing at the end of it.

“Well, I live a little off-campus, too,” Kara says. “Maybe there’s some place in between us that might work better.”

There isn’t much nearby as far as places that are suited to tutoring. They’re on the north side of the city where streets tend to be more residential, but it’s still a heavily trafficked area and the thought of going to the Starbucks four blocks down from her apartment building on a busy afternoon makes Lena annoyed just thinking about it. Not to mention the idea that someone might see them out and about and mistake her presence with Kara Danvers as a social call.

Her disastrous relationship with Veronica fucking Sinclair last year had done enough for her reputation around campus. She doesn’t need anyone thinking she’s rebounding with a idiot hockey player with a mangled face and an altogether questionable understanding of style.

“Campus is fine. I have a car,” Lena says, arching a pointed eyebrow that only makes Kara laugh again. The sound of it tightens in Lena’s stomach.

“So do I,” Kara says, shifting back in her seat and slouching in a way that has Lena’s spine straightening in response. “I just thought it’d be easier if we didn’t have to deal with coming onto campus, parking and all that.”

“We’re not meeting at my place,” Lena says, just to be clear, but Kara shrugs.

“I don’t know where you live, but my house is over on Harmon,” Kara says though Lena’d already known that. The hockey house – or Hockey Haus as its been nicknamed, by idiots – is notorious around school for their parties and it’s located on the street with most of the group or team houses. And she knows the murderer’s row of shitty townhouses Kara resides on is at least fifteen blocks west of campus. Sometimes if you stand on the quad fifteen minutes before class, you can see a mess of dumb jocks, frat guys, and general malcontents come piling off at the bus stop there.

Just the idea of stepping foot in that house makes Lena cringe a bit, but with the alternative being inviting Kara to her own apartment, Lena finds herself leaning towards agreement. Kara’s right, sometimes dealing with driving and parking on campus is more trouble than it’s worth and it’s not as if Lena’s going to be jumping on public transportation any time soon.

“Fine,” Lena says, albeit with considerable reluctance.

“Great!” Kara replies, sitting up and fishing a phone out of her pocket. “I’ll text you the address.”

In the interest of not letting Kara know Lena’s already well aware of the where the Hockey Haus is, Lena exchanges phone numbers and waits for the text message to come through. She saves Kara’s number in as _K. Danvers_ and just barely avoids adding an angry face emoji at the end.

They part ways with plans to meet next Thursday at Kara’s house. Kara slings her hat back on her head, sliding it until it sits backwards, but neglecting to put her sunglasses on and instead sliding them into a side pocket on her bag. Lena thinks she looks ridiculous, but spares a thought to wonder what her face looks like when it’s not marred by injury.

The picture her mind composites in accordance with what little she’s seen of Kara’s Instagram or posters around campus is not completely repulsive, but Lena dismisses that with a roll of her eyes at herself.

Smacking on a piece of gum she’s just slid into her mouth, Kara grins as she stands and extends her hand towards Lena. “It was nice to meet you again,” she says and this time Lena summons her own manners to clasp Kara’s hand and shake it. Her grip is strong, her fingers long and surprisingly soft. “Thanks for deciding to be my tutor this semester.”

Lena considers telling her that assignments aren’t really a choice and that Lena’d been considering putting in for a switch but bites her tongue and just smiles thinly. “Have a good week,” she says before sliding her laptop into her bag and striding out of the room.

\--

“We do not need that much vodka,” Lena says as Jack starts to pull the magnum sized bottle of Belvedere off the shelf. Jess is ahead of them inspecting the shelf of energy drinks at the end of the aisle.

“You always say that,” Jack says, huffing a little as he gets the bottle into his hands. “And then we always run out.”

Lena makes a noise of disagreement, but doesn’t stop him from hefting the alcohol into their cart. “Maybe if you stopped inviting every single person you know on campus to these parties, we’d stop running out of alcohol.”

“A party requires people, Lena,” Jack insists, moving around her towards the flavored vodkas to their right.

“And what?” Lena asks, propping a hand on her hip and blocking Jack from putting a butterscotch flavored vodka into the cart. “We don’t qualify as people?”

Jack follows the way her finger indicates the three of them with a mixture of amusement and pity in his smile. “I worry about your social calendar without me.”

“I’m sorry that I don’t particularly enjoy surrounding myself with people I know are only interested in the size of my family’s bank account and if I’m vacationing in Tulum this summer,” Lena says dryly, but doesn’t stop when Jack reaches around her to inspect a bottle of locally distilled vodka.

“That’s not all they’re interested in,” Jack replies, chuckling and making a suggestive show of gazing up and down her body.

“Gross,” Lena says, making a face, but laughing at the exaggerated wiggle of his eyebrows.

“I’m just saying. Unearned popularity has its perks.”

Lena rolls her eyes but is prevented from replying as Jess returns to the cart with two boxes of some green labeled energy drink. The sight of it makes a phantom headache spike in the back of Lena’s head. “I think I’m feeling an anticipatory hangover,” she grumbles as Jess slides the drinks onto the bottom section of their cart.

Her two friends laugh and ignore her glaring as Jack finally gets the rest of his vodka selections in the cart and starts to push it down the aisle, leaving her to follow.

\--

The party isn’t tradition so much as just something they normally do on Saturday nights. Jack lives in one of the larger houses on campus - unofficially the Robotics Club House - and is known for hosting weekend parties there. Jack’s last name doesn’t quite bring the same sort of attention as Lena’s does, but that’s tough to do. All the same, their two families are fairly well known and there’s never a lack of students trying to suck up to them in hopes of getting an in for an internship or an invite to spring break in Barbados.

Lena’s always found it irritating to wade through all the fake offers of friendship – and has just sworn off new friends as a result – but it’s never bothered Jack nearly as much. “Think of them like minions,” he’s told her. “They’ll do whatever I want just to sweat in my shadow.”

“Not everyone wants to spend their Saturday night being fawned over like that,” Lena’s said, but Jack always waves her off.

“As if you have a better offer.”

It’s true. Much as she hates admitting Jack is right. She does wish she had something better to do those nights, but as it is, she doesn’t. And spending the night alone in her apartment studying or shuffling through her Netflix queue makes her mother’s reminders about maintaining a _healthy_ social life resonate in her head.

Much as she’d like to, Lillian’s voice is hard to drown out.

So here she is, lingering in the kitchen while Jack mixes drinks and Winn, one of Jack’s roommates, complains about the grading rubric in his statistics general this semester. Jack hands Winn his signature tequila sunrise and slings his arm around the other man’s shoulders.

It makes Winn stutter a bit midsentence, his cheeks going pink and Lena wants to roll her eyes. Winn and Jack have been dancing around each other for two semesters now and the flirtation is getting old.

“You know, if you need a copy of the problem sets, Lena took that class freshman year,” Jack says, pointing at Lena with his beer and this time she doesn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes.

Winn looks at her hopefully, but Lena sighs, plucks a bottle of whiskey off the nearby table and walks away from them without another word.

The house is fairly packed. Some of the people she recognizes, but most she doesn’t. A few people try to catch her eye, and there are a couple calls of her name that she promptly ignores in favor of walking through the house in search of Jess.

There’s a rowdy game of charades on the couch as she’s passing by and Lena very much avoids it when they try to get her to join, in favor of finding the back deck where she thinks Jess must be hosting a poker game.

Sure enough, Jess is out on her deck holding court at a hexagonal felt table, a cigar burning in an ashtray next to her as she shuffles the cards in her hands. There are upended shot glasses littered across the game that show they’ve been playing for some time now – Jess never likes playing for money, would rather modify the rules of betting to turn it into a drinking game. She usually wins that way, anyway.

There’s an empty chair opposite Jess and Lena slides into it, setting her bottle of whiskey on the table and smiling at the little grin Jess sends her. There are two other woman at the table, one of them slouched so far in her chair that Lena’s fairly sure she must be deep in shot debt at this point, but the other one is a pretty brunette that Lena recognizes from her English elective.

The brunette startles a bit when she recognizes her, but recovers to bat her eyelashes at Lena in that irritating kind of flirtation she’s always complaining about.  

Ignoring the play for her attention, Lena turns to Jess. “Deal me in,” she instructs, reaching for an unused shot glass and putting it in front of her.

Her friend laughs, but does as she’s told.

\--

They’re fairly intoxicated by the time a decision gets made to leave the house in favor of one of the bars. There aren’t many on their side of the city that don’t blink at underage students, but there are definitely a few less than fastidious ones.

One of them is a campus favorite – The Crossbar – and it sits on a less trafficked street three blocks behind the university’s ice rink.

It’s the grungy kind of place that’s nearly always breaking fire code and that you’d never want to see in the light of day, but it also doesn’t look too hard at IDs and serves a really strong long islands for the price of entry. Its floors start the beginning of the night sticky and end them slick with dropped cups and God knows what else.

Sober Lena hates The Crossbar, but Drunk Lena is easily talked into going just about anywhere, so when Jess says she’s calling them an Uber, Lena doesn’t really care where it’s headed as long as it’s somewhere away from the drunk couple on Jack’s couch that are about two minutes away from indecent exposure.

When they pull up and get in line to pay cover, Lena can hear the loud pumping sounds of “Africa”  blasting out of the doors, a disharmony of voices screaming along to the lyrics. Typical Saturday night at Crossbar. Winn starts singing along as he sways in place and James tuts out a percussion beat to go with it as he scrolls through his phone, swiping mostly right on Tinder.

Lena’s drunk. She can feel the way her extremities are starting to feel floaty and there’s a melon aftertaste on her tongue from the last round of shots they did before leaving. It’s a pleasant kind of intoxicated, where everything feels a little muted and Jack lets her lean up against him while they wait.

They’re nearly at the entrance where a bouncer is disinterestedly checking IDs and taking money when there’s a commotion not too far away from them and a side exit door is bursting open to clang loudly against the exterior wall.

“Get the _fuck_ off me,” a girl is saying, shoving at the security guard who’s attempting to pull her out of the bar by the elbow.

She’s not successful and he gets her out toward the sidewalk before releasing her. “You’re banned for a week, Leslie. Don’t make me ban you for longer.”

“Oh, fuck you, Greg,” Leslie spits and it looks like she’s going to lunge at him, but another girl comes barreling out of the bar and steps between them before it happens. Three other women are tripping out of the bar on her heels and it’s like watching clowns pile out of a clown car.

Lena’s vision is a little unfocused, but as she continues to watch the altercation she recognizes a figure towards the back of the pack, lingering in the side door with a beer in her hands and an arm draped around a shorter blonde girl that’s plastered to her side. It’s Kara Danvers.

“Leslie, let’s go, you’re kicked out,” the girl that got there first is saying.

“Fuck you too, Smythe, I’m kicked out when I say I’m kicked out.”

“That’s not how it works,” the other girl says, and the security guard is puffing his chest up, arms crossed.

“Either get her out of here Siobhan or she’s banned for a month,” the guard says.

“ _You’re_ banned for a fucking month, you doucheweed,” Leslie counters, going to point at him, but getting dragged away quite handily.

Jack shuffles her forward in the line, but most everyone waiting to get in has stopped to watch the interaction and Lena can’t help but laugh when Leslie almost maneuvers her way out of Siobhan’s hands.

“Little help guys,” Siobhan grunts and the two other woman watching in front of Kara move to help their friend.

The security guard turns back around to walk back inside and stops in front of Kara, giving her a stern look. “Finish that or take it inside, Danvers,” he says, gesturing towards her beer.

Locking eyes with him, she tips the plastic cup of beer to her lips and finishes it. She hands the empty cup to the girl that’s been pressed up against her as if in silent instruction to take care of it. To Lena’s surprise, the girl doesn’t bat an eye as she takes the cup and scoots from under Kara’s arm to retreat back inside the bar.

They’ve made it to the front of the line as Kara’s moving past the security guard to join her friends. Lena’s pulling her ID out of her bra, one eye still watching to see if the group successfully pulls Leslie away. That’s about when Kara notices her, the bruising on her face more visible now that she’s stepped out into the lights of the street.

And then, to Lena’s complete horror, Kara puts her hand in the air to wave at her. “Hey, Lena,” she calls out like they’re old friends.

The bouncer is handing her ID back and giving drink tickets to Jack in exchange for the price of cover, so Lena uses that as an excuse to pretend she hasn’t heard Kara.

Jack, however, has apparently heard and so has Jess who’s craning her neck around to place who just yelled out. “Who was that?” Jack asks, his glossy eyes searching around but distracted by Leslie falling bodily against a nearby parked car.

Kara looks like she might come closer to the line then, and another short call of her name rings forth, but Lena shoves Jack ahead of her in line and shuffles quickly past the bouncer and inside.

They push their way to the front of the bar and flag a bartender, exchange their tickets for their drinks and Lena thankfully doesn’t see Kara Danvers or her friends for the rest of the night.

\--

Sunday morning comes with a wicked headache, a mouthful of cotton and about six missed calls from her mother that she ignores in favor of groaning and kicking at Jack where he’s passed out on the bedroom floor snoring.   

They spend their day eating takeout and slogging through homework in Lena’s living room. Lena’d gotten most of hers done Friday, but she has a few things she has to prepare for the coming Monday.

It’s lazy kind of end to their weekend and Lena enjoys the familiarity of it – of Jack over-ordering waffles and Jess running to the gas station at the corner to buy them all Gatorades.

With her phone on silent and the rest of campus sleepily doing much the same as they are, Lena’s life feels quiet and still and devoid of its normal pressures. She likes Sundays. She wishes every day was Sunday.

\--

The week goes by uneventfully. It’s still too early in the semester for anything really interesting to be happening and most of her classes are still in that early stage of the material where she doesn’t have to pay attention too closely.

Her first official tutoring session with Kara comes far too quickly, however, and it’s only until that afternoon, an hour before it’s slated to start, that she remembers she has to go to the damned hockey house.

Though she’s never been there, she’s driven past the infamous house before and has seen it featured frequently in social media posts. It’s not as notorious a place as the softball house on the other end of the long street, but it’s still fairly popular for the kind of parties that leave the front yard littered with plastic cups and empty kegs.

When Lena rolls up on Thursday, the lawn is surprisingly devoid of such trash. There are, however, no less than six cars parked Tetris-style in the driveway – the contrast between the clean looking Jeep Wrangler and the beat-up blue pickup truck gives her some pause. There’s a Pride flag hanging out of one of the windows and a mannequin that’s missing its arms leaned up against a wooden bench on the porch.

The house is quiet, but she doesn’t let that fool her. She’s heard enough stories to be wary of what she’s about to walk into, but she’s certainly no stranger to chaos.  

The door opens rather swiftly after she rings the bell, but it’s not Kara on the other side. Instead it’s a taller girl with dark brown hair and attractive cheekbones and she’s smirking at Lena as she pulls apart two Twizzlers and sticks one in her mouth.

“Hiya,” the girl says, eyebrows raising as if to ask _and you are?_

“Is Kara here?” Lena says, impatient and barely restraining herself from tapping her foot.

The girl laughs, waggling the licorice stick not in her mouth towards Lena’s face. “Should have known,” she says, stepping aside to allow Lena into the house. “She’s in her room.”

The house smells like stale beer and something burning in the oven – maybe a pizza. Lena’s nose wrinkles up as she’s led inside and she hitches her bag higher up on her shoulder as she navigates the pile of shoes strewn across the entryway.

To the left, there’s a small kitchen where Lena can see an enormous metal rack with masses of boxes and foodstuffs on it. On her right, there’s a living room with a very large television and a large sectional couch that has multiple rips on its surface. There’s also an ad for STI testing plastered to the wall that looks like one of the ones that occasionally show up on buses or trains.

“I’m Sam, by the way,” the girl says, stuffing the second string of licorice in the side of her mouth and sticking her hand out to shake Lena’s.

“Lena,” she says curtly, shaking Sam’s hand, but not lingering on it.

Sam seems to find something amusing, but she doesn’t share with the class. Just points to a staircase down the hall. “All the way up, down the hall, turn right, up again, can’t miss it,” she instructs.

From the look of the house around her, Lena’s fairly sure she _can_ in fact get lost, but Sam departs for the kitchen without any further instruction and Lena’s left staring down at a staircase wondering again if she should just call the tutoring office and bribe someone to switch assignments.

But she’s Lena Luthor. And she wants this job, wants something that her mother can’t touch. And Kara Danvers and her disgusting face and house won’t take that from her. She steels her jaw and paces forward, following Sam’s instructions until she’s up in what must be a lofted area of the house and facing a dark brown door with the number _18_ painted across its face in bold red script.

When she knocks, something sounds like it crashes and then _thumps_ on the ground somewhere in the room, but moments later the door is swinging open and a flushed looking Kara Danvers is smiling back at her. She’s in soft worn looking sweats and a faded sweatshirt that’s cut off at the collar, her hair swept up in a high ponytail.

“Hey, hi,” Kara says, sounding a bit out of breath. Her face looks much better than it did a week ago, the bruise yellowing around her eye and the cut on her cheek close to healing. She’s wearing glasses that Lena didn’t know she needed, the frames bulky in a sort of hip way. It’s the first time Lena realizes how blue Kara’s eyes are.

“Your face looks better,” Lena comments before she can think not to and Kara laughs, touching her eye gingerly.

“Yeah, I can barely feel it,” she says and then steps aside to beckon Lena further into her bedroom.

“That’s good,” Lena says as she surveys the room.

It’s clear Kara must have just been cleaning if only by the haphazard way her laundry is shoved under the bed and the faint hint of Febreze in the air, muffled only by the mahogany and teakwood candle burning on Kara’s dresser.

The room is a complete hodgepodge of décor – if one can even call it that. There’s a line of hockey sticks propped up next to Kara’s bed and beside it sits a small black mini fridge with a mix of fitness supplements and half-empty bottles of liquor on top of it. There are three different jerseys pinned to the walls – all of them with _Danvers_ sewn into the back – and above the head of Kara’s bed there’s a huge _Jackrabbits Hockey_ flag. Christmas lights are haphazardly strewn across the ceiling, held up by a mismatched array of hooks and duct tape. Lena eyes the way some of the lights are drooping as if they'll fall any moment with trepidation. 

“So welcome to the house,” Kara says, tucking her hands in the pockets of her sweatpants and shifting back and forth on her heels while Lena stands awkwardly in the center of the room.

Lena arches a brow. “Are you going to offer me a seat, or do you want to do this standing?”

Kara flushes and Lena looks away, irritated that she finds the panicky way Kara looks around the room somewhat charming. It’s so at odds with the smug expression she’s used to.

“I thought maybe the bed,” Kara offers and Lena’s back aches with the idea of hunching over books for the next hour like that.

“Don’t you have a desk?” Lena asks, pointing towards it. The surface is littered with books, an errant sweatshirt and a pair of hockey gloves. On the wall above it there’s a collection of papers taped up – what looks like a class schedule and a few children's drawings of what must be a hockey stick and goals with lots of hearts. “There is a desk under all that, right?”

“Yes, yes there is,” Kara says, moving forward and sweeping everything on her desk into her arms at once and then precariously depositing it on her bed.

Lena tries not to wince at the cluttered mess that creates, but her hands flex with the desire to reach out and straighten everything. Thankfully, the seat at Kara’s desk turns away from the sight and she can try to put it out of her mind.

She’s pulling her tablet out of her bag and setting up when a loud bang at the door behind them startles her and she jumps.

“Yo, Danvers, heard you had a girl up here,” a voice calls out from the doorway and Lena turns to see a girl with silvery hair standing there – the same one she’d last seen being thrown out of Crossbar Saturday night. Leslie.

“Get out of here, Willis,” Kara orders, standing and moving towards the door to shove the girl out. It begins a bit of a power struggle in the doorway, Kara shoving and Leslie clutching the doorframe to keep in place.

“I’m just here to see who thinks so low of themselves that they’d slum it with you,” Leslie says, resisting Kara’s push to look over her shoulder and smile at Lena. “Hey, you could do better, just so you know. Get out while you still can.”

It’s clearly directed at her and Lena’s only been here for ten minutes, but she knows enough not to engage. Instead, she arches a brow and smiles her most _fuck you_ smile she can muster. “I’m fine, thanks.”

Leslie looks amused at the answer and finally gives in to the way Kara’s manhandling her out of the room. Kara gets the door shut and locks it with a shoddy looking deadbolt, turning to lean against it with an exasperated roll of her eyes. “Sorry about her,” she says, striding back over to the desk, grabbing a folding lawn chair from the corner on the way. “She doesn’t get out much.”

“And when she does she manages to get kicked out of such esteemed places like Crossbar on a Saturday night,” Lena muses dryly, fishing the rest of her materials out of her bag.

Kara laughs as she flops down into the lawn chair that basically brings them to the same level. “So it _was_ you,” she says and Lena looks pointedly away from the quirky smile on Kara’s face. “I wasn’t sure with the way you basically ran away from me.”

“I did not _run away from you_ ,” Lena denies, defensive at the idea.

“Oh sorry, maybe you just didn’t hear me,” Kara says and it’s clear how much weight she puts behind that idea.

Lena rolls her eyes. “Maybe I didn’t want to associate with the group of people getting thrown out,” she says and Kara shrugs a shoulder, pulling her backpack towards her from where it’s leaned up against the bed. The bag is littered with iron-on patches - there’s a big one of the Jackrabbits logo colored in with a rainbow, another that just says FBI, and one of an alien giving a peace sign that Lena can see before Kara turns it around.

“Fair enough,” she says. “But when you’re friends with Leslie, you get kind of used to it.”

Curious, Lena watches as Kara starts to shuffle around the front pocket of her bag before pulling out a pencil. “What did she do anyway?”

“Threatened to kill some woman,” Kara answers, the pencil she’s put in her mouth muffles the words a little and the delivery is so casual that Lena thinks she maybe misheard.

“I’m sorry?”

Kara finds her notebook and removes the pencil, setting it on the desk. “She told some chick she was going to _fucking kill her_ ,” Kara explains, putting airquotes around the last bit. “And then they complained to security and so they had to throw her out.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Lena deadpans, glancing towards the door Leslie had just occupied. “It’s a wonder she hasn’t been expelled.”

Kara seems dismissive of the fact her friend’s been issuing weekend death threats. “That’s just the way Leslie talks. Her bark is way worse than her bite. Everyone knows that. Especially the bouncers at Crossbar.”

Smiling, Kara seems to have moved on from the conversation and she pulls one of her textbooks towards her, a leaf of paper in the front that Lena sees is a syllabus. “Should we get started?”

Remembering why she’s there in the first place, Lena nods and they get to work.

It’s not as awful as Lena’d expected. Kara’s rather attentive and she doesn’t interrupt Lena when she’s going through a complicated problem. It’s actually kind of satisfying to explain something and see Kara understand it so quickly and reminds Lena why, aside from the steady stream of Luthor-free income it provides, she actually enjoys tutoring.

They get almost entirely through the problem set before Kara’s stretching her arms over her head and standing. “You want a drink?”

Lena’s a bit wary of whatever kind of drink Kara’s offering, not expecting much out of the black mini fridge in the corner. “I’m okay,” she says, spinning her pen around in her fingers absently.

Kara paces to the fridge to open it and peer inside. “You sure? I have…well I mostly just have Gatorade and beer, but I’m sure there’s a water in here somewhere.”

“I’m fine,” Lena insists and Kara shrugs as if to say _suit yourself_ before pulling a bottle of light blue Gatorade from the fridge and twisting it open.

There’s a loud crashing sound from somewhere in the house, distant and muffled by the closed door, but still enough to make both Lena and Kara jump.

“Jeez,” Kara breathes, glaring at the door as if it were the culprit. “I’m going to kill Nia.”

Lena has no idea who Nia is, but she can hear the sound of two women shouting at each other and it seems to be coming from somewhere below them.

“How many roommates do you have?” Lena asks, as Kara moves to sit back down.

“Seven,” Kara answers, her lips twisting wryly and the look of horror on Lena’s face. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

“There are _seven_ women in this house?!”

Kara nods. “Eve and Nia live in the room right below me and then Sam, Grace and Julie share that big room at the end of the hall,” she explains, ticking her roommates off on her fingers. “Leslie and Siobhan split the basement and if you’re smart, you just…don’t go down there.”

“That’s about six too many roommates for my taste,” Lena says and Kara rolls her eyes a little, just in Lena’s periphery.

“Well, not all of us can afford swanky apartments by ourselves,” Kara says, a little pointed and a little teasing.

Lena bristles, but before she can retort, a knock at Kara’s door interrupts them and they turn to hear a slightly muffled. “Kara, have you seen my water gun?”

Lena watches as Kara’s attention draws to a neon green and orange Nerf gun propped up in the corner, covered in little stickers.

“Maybe!” Kara calls out, winking at Lena with her good eye and standing up to walk to the door. “What do you need it for?”

“Eve’s being a little bitch,” the voice calls out and Lena notices a mischievous look in Kara’s eye when she slowly, quietly unlocks her door and reaches for the handle.

Moments later, Lena realizes why, when Kara yanks the door open so swiftly that the body on the other side comes tripping into the room, falling onto the cheap rug under Kara’s feet.

“Fuck, Danvers,” the girl complains, picking herself up and glaring at Kara. “The hell was that for?”

“I’m trying to study, Nia, I don’t have time for your shit,” Kara answers and it’s then that Nia’s attention drags to Lena, her eyes widening noticeably, a surprised grin appearing on her face.

“You have a girl up here,” she says, voice a touched awed like this is some cosmically significant event. Lena wonders offhand if any of the women in the house have ever socialized with other humans before.

“Yes, and we’re _studying_ ,” Kara says pointedly before reaching for the plastic toy gun against the wall and thrusting it towards Nia. “So, get out and stop making so much noise. Tell Eve to calm the fuck down too.”

Nia takes the gun but keeps grinning as her eyes dart between Kara and Lena.

It’s what prompts Lena to sigh and reach for her bag. “It’s fine, we were just finishing.”

“Nia’s leaving, sit back down,” Kara says, pulling Nia back out of the room by her arm, but Lena’s already shoving her stuff back in her bag and standing.

“No, I should go,” Lena says, ready for the quiet of her own apartment instead of the circus of sound she can hear stirring in the house below them. “I think you can finish the last problem on your own.”

“No I can’t,” Kara insists, almost comically certain of it.

“Yeah, Kara’s a known dumbass,” Nia says, patting Kara on the arm in mock support until Kara swats at her.

“Shut up, Nia,” she says, but Lena’s done with this and she shoulders her bag intending to brush past them.

“I’ll walk you out,” Kara says, pushing Nia out of the way so Lena can pass by and following her toward the stairs.

“I can find my own way out,” Lena replies, but Kara continues her pursuit, skipping down the stairs behind Lena.

“I’ll walk you out anyway,” Kara says with a happy grin that Lena wants to find annoying but is almost cute in the way it stretches the purpling skin of her cheekbone.

“How chivalrous,” Lena says drily and under her breath when Kara shifts quickly in front of her to open the door.

“See you soon?” Kara calls out as Lena’s double checking that her key fob is in the front pocket of her bag on her way out the front door.

“In a week,” Lena replies and doesn’t wait for an answer before sliding into the front of her car.

Kara watches her from the porch, waves as she pulls away from the curb and Lena actually waves back before she can stop herself.

\--

That weekend is thankfully tamer than the last – Jack decides against a Saturday party and instead has a much smaller group of friends over to watch some MMA fight he and James have bought on pay-per-view.

Lena declines the invitation – uninterested in spending her night watching two men beat the shit out of each other. Even if Jack had offered his best whiskey and cigars. It’s not that she has anything against the activity, but she feels too exhausted to listen to James’s unending claims that he absolutely could be a contender in the MMA if he just got serious about his training.

So, Saturday night finds her in her room working on a coding project she’d started earlier that month and binge-ing some show Jess had recommended on Netflix. It’s quiet, but nice and she’s certainly grateful for the lack of hangover she has Sunday morning. Especially when she agrees to drive Jack, James and Winn to the diner at noon and sees how green they all look when her plate of egg whites and asparagus arrives to the table.

The diner is where most of campus can be found on a Sunday morning, exhausted and dehydrated from the night before. The place is teeming with students drinking bottomless pots of coffee and taking advantage of the brunch deals.

Which is why it’s no surprise that two tables down from them, Kara Danvers is tilted back in her chair and laughing at something her tablemates are saying. The sound of her laugh draws Lena’s attention and she recognizes Sam – the girl that let her into the house – and Nia, but hasn’t seen the fourth before.

They don’t look as hungover as the rest of the crowd. Certainly not with the way Nia is shoveling oatmeal in her mouth and Kara’s laughing at her as she eats an apple.

It’s not that she’s staring, necessarily, but they’re the only lively crowd in the entire diner and Kara’s wearing an obnoxious combination of purple gym shorts and a long sleeved grey shirt and from the foot she has propped up on the table leg to keep her chair tilted, she’s wearing sandals with _socks_.

“Do you know them?” Winn asks around a mouthful of dry toast, his eyes squinting the direction Lena’s looking.

James looks over his shoulder and she almost kicks him under the table lest he draw attention their way. “That’s the women’s hockey team,” he supplies, turning back to his coffee.

“Oh!” Jack says, perking up and craning his neck to look. “Your new student?”

“Who? Which one?” James asks, looking back again and this time Lena _does_ kick him.

“Kara Danvers, right?” Jack’s slouching in the booth, his feet coming up to rest on the bench between Lena and Winn.

“Which one is Kara?” Winn asks, squirming when Jack’s boot taps his thigh.

As if overhearing the question, Kara looks over in that moment, her eyes locking in with Lena’s in quick recognition.

“Shit,” Lena mutters and then Kara’s dropping all four legs of her chair back on the ground and for a moment Lena fears she’s going to stand up and walk over to their table.  

“I’m guessing that one,” Winn says and Jack laughs, the _bastard_.

But thankfully, Kara doesn’t head their direction. No, she’s just sitting in her chair whispering something to Nia who looks over at Lena as well and gives a little wave that Kara smacks out of the air.

“You don’t know who Kara Danvers is?” James says, drawing Lena’s attention back to the table.

“Keep your voice down, she’s right there,” Lena says out of the side of her mouth, wondering what possessed her to have Sunday brunch with a bunch of idiot boys.

Winn shrugs, plays with his fork. “Is the hockey team any good?”

“I think they won the MAC last year,” James answers and Lena’s not sure how they’re a competent team at all from what she’s seen of them so far. “Their team pictures have been all over campus.”

Movement out of the corner of her eye tells her that Kara and her teammates are standing to leave. They pass by Lena’s booth as they do and Kara lingers towards the back, grinning when she draws near and giving Lena a ridiculous little chin lift as if that counts as a greeting.

“‘Sup,” Kara says, surveying the table as she twirls a set of car keys on her fingers.

“‘Sup,” Jack mimics, but he draws the word out in mockery and puts two of his fingers in the air in a tiny wave.

Kara doesn’t seem to pick up on his making fun of her and it’s likely because her eyes are trained on Lena, focused there so singularly that Lena almost squirms.

“Can we help you?” Lena asks, a touch snottily, but Kara just laughs.

“Nope,” she says simply, and she gives another chin lift to the rest of the table. “See you around.”

And with that, Kara follows the rest of her friends out of the diner.  

“Jocks are weird,” Winn mumbles as they all watch Kara exit out the front door and onto the street.  

\--

That Monday comes with the first meeting of her philosophy lecture that she’s been dreading since coming back to school. Thankfully, the class hadn’t had to meet for the first two weeks because the professor had been at some conference.

It takes an extra shot in her americano that morning to drag her feet into the liberal arts building on campus and find the right lecture hall.

By the time she gets there – a few minutes before class starts – most of the seats in the back row are already taken. It’s where she’d prefer to sit, far enough away from the professor that she can snooze through the lectures and no one behind her to snoop on her laptop when she’s not paying attention.

A quick scan of the back row reveals there’s still an empty spot over in the far corner, but as she approaches she catches sight of who it’d sit her next to. Because _of course it would_.

“Didn’t know athletes actually went to class,” Lena says as she rounds the corner of the row to plop down next to Kara. The lecture hall is cramped enough that she nearly elbows Kara in the side when she reaches down to grab a notebook from her bag.

Kara laughs when she pulls up from her phone to notice Lena. “Only for syllabus day,” she says and Lena can’t tell if it’s a joke or not.

As most of the student-athletes do, Kara’s dressed in a pair of team-branded trackpants and a shirt with the school mascot emblazoned on the front modified so the usual Jackrabbit is holding a hockey stick.

“Well, you won’t be getting any help from me if you skip,” Lena says and Kara just laughs again like everything Lena says is hilarious.

Her glasses slip down and she pushes them back up her nose. “I wouldn’t dream of asking.”

They’re interrupted, thankfully, by an enthusiastic TA with a stack of papers in his hand calling for their attention at the bottom of the auditorium and then class begins.

\--

“Are you a philosophy major?” Kara asks, as they’re packing up to leave class. It’d been only a half hour of housekeeping information and a quick review of the syllabus before the professor had released them.

Lena scoffs at the idea and gives Kara a look. “This is a philosophy general for _non-majors_ ,” she says, emphasizing the word, but Kara doesn’t seem shamed by the condescension. She shrugs, stepping into the aisle and holding up like she’s waiting for Lena.

“Just making conversation.”

Shouldering her bag, Lena makes to leave and Kara follows after her, keeping in step as they file out of the room. “Are you following me?” Lena asks when they both turn out the side door of the building and out onto the quad.

“No,” Kara says, a happy little grin on her face that Lena is starting to find irritating. “My next class is this way.”

In the sunlight, Kara’s hair shines a little more golden than it had been inside, and she notes that the bruising around her eye is nearly gone completely. The lack of swelling and visible injury certainly makes her face look different, and Lena turns away lest she take too much notice of how casually attractive Kara might be, if she could dress well and become at least sixty percent less annoying.

“So what _is_ your major?” Kara asks, her hands holding the straps of her backpack where they hang from her shoulders. Her long legs keep time with Lena’s as they stride across the grass toward the student center across the way.

“Astrobiology,” Lena deadpans, not understanding what has Kara so interested in the first place.

“Oh,” Kara says, her mouth going fish like a second. “That’s cool.”

Lena pulls a face. “That’s not a real thing,” she says. “Not at Vandermeer.”

It makes Kara laugh. Again. Lena’d really like it if Kara stopped laughing because it’s a pretty sound and developing a senseless attraction to the girl in front of her would be inconvenient at best.

“Well, I don’t know, it could be. Sounds kind of fun.”

They arrive at the student center doors and Lena makes to open them, but Kara beats her to it, pulling it open for Lena to walk inside. Though she rolls her eyes at the display, she takes the opening and beelines for the coffee shop just inside.

Kara still trails her until Lena turns and gives her a pointed look. “Don’t you have class?”

A flush pulses across Kara’s cheeks, but she doesn’t seem all too put off by Lena’s frosty attitude and she smiles. “Yeah. See you Thursday?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Lena says, waving Kara off and wondering what the hell she’s doing to make Kara smile like that so often, and how she should go about stopping.

\--

Wednesday nights mean trivia at Legends Pub and Lena looks forward to the tradition as a nice break in her otherwise mundane week. It certainly helps that their trivia team has been undefeated since fall of sophomore year, except for that week Lena had the flu and had almost passed out mid-game.

“Do you want to make t-shirts this year?” Jess muses, twisting a sucker around in her mouth as they walk to the bar.

“Yes,” James answers immediately, his eyes lighting up at the idea. He’s already wearing an absurd looking shirt from last year’s Fall Festival that Lena wishes he would burn. It’s got a Jackrabbit on the front with a jack-o-lantern for a head and the color scheme is somehow _worse_ than the normal school colors with they way they’ve shaded orange and black in.

“We need another player first,” Jack says, shaking his head at the t-shirt idea. “Now that Lana’s graduated, we’re one short of a full team and we’ve got no one to answer all the dumb culture questions.”

“I think we’ll be fine,” Lena replies, scrolling through a trivia app on her phone as some last minute prep. Jess has her arm twisted around her own so she doesn’t trip on their walk.

“Said like a true antisocial nerd,” Jack says. “Why go into a game without every weapon at your disposal?”

“Maybe we can hold auditions,” Winn says, walking fast to keep up with Jack’s much taller form.

“Does a team as powerful as Big Thick Roosters really _need_ a sixth member?” Lena asks, following Jess’s tug as they turn right around a corner. Her phone buzzes with a text, interrupting her game: it’s Kara Danvers, asking if she needs any drinks for tomorrow to stock her fridge with. She ignores the message, irritated all over again.

“It’s always good to have as many members as you can get,” Jack says, and she doesn’t even have to look up to see him waggling his eyebrows.

\--

Thursday rolls around again. She heads over to the hockey house for her second tutoring session with Kara about as reluctantly as she’s done just about anything in her whole life.

It goes a bit better than the first if only because it doesn’t involve Sam smirking at her at the front door or Nia chasing after Eve with a watergun. It does, however, involve Kara steering her wide of the living room when she walks inside because apparently Grace has a guest over and the couch is occupied.

“Is it normal to just have sex on the living room couch?” Lena asks when they safely make it to Kara’s room and close the door.

Kara shrugs, looks to consider the question for a second. “The couch, the kitchen, once I caught Leslie and Siobhan in the laundry room, and when we have house parties there’s always something going on in the hot tub. I mean even the roof –”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Lena interrupts, eyes having widened as Kara went on. “You’ve had sex on your _roof_?”

Lena doesn’t mean to ask it so personally, but that’s what comes out and Kara smirks a little.

“No,” she says, “But other people have.”

Lena makes a noise just thinking about how dangerous and exposed that is and Kara laughs.

“That’s ridiculous,” Lena says.

Kara’s face seems to indicate agreement. “Hey, I’ve always been perfectly fine with my bed,” she says, gesturing towards the furniture in question. Furniture Lena’s currently leaning against.

She jumps away from it as if it were scalding and it only pulls deeper amusement across Kara’s face. It makes Lena’s cheeks feel hot and she scrambles to find higher ground.

“Oh please, your roommates were so scandalized you had a girl in your room last week. As if that bed has seen any action.”

It doesn’t do the trick of swiping Kara’s smug little smile off her face and Lena feels the urge to fume.

“I don’t usually have girls up here on weekdays,” Kara says, still smirking.

There’s something about the implication of what Kara does on the week _ends_ that makes Lena feel a little tingly and she boulders through the feeling before it becomes something significant. “Don’t you have games on weekends?” Lena asks, arms crossing over her chest and she feels a bit like she’s scolding a teenager, but it doesn’t stop her.

“Sure, but not every weekend,” Kara says, unrepentant as she leans back in her desk chair and puts her arms behind her head. Her shirt rides up the slightest, showing a hint of tan midriff. “And it’s not like they take up the entire day. There’s time.”

Lena’s not winning this conversation. Not with the way Kara’s biceps strain against the fabric of her t-shirt or the way the cotton falls over her stomach when it rides up.

“Whatever, I’m wholly uninterested in what you do with your free time,” Lena says, picking her bag up and striding over to the empty chair next to Kara.

“You sure about that?” Kara asks, still rocking backward and eying Lena a little cockily.

Lena pulls Kara’s textbook off her desk and shoves it in her stomach, satisfied when Kara lets out an _oof_ and falls forward to grab it.

“Positive,” Lena says and then they get to work.

\--

“Do you think I should get a tattoo?” Jack asks as they wait in line for coffees at the only Starbucks near campus. On Fridays, Jack’s always doing something with the robotics club, and Lena’s always trying to get her homework squared away at the library. Jess has a Friday morning Spanish class that she complains about near-religiously. But they still make time to meet before all of that and grab a quick coffee while talking over weekend plans. 

“Of what?” Jess asks while Lena scans the front page of the school newspaper.

“Like something tribal on my arm,” Jack says and Lena looks up from an article on the new library policies.

“Absolutely not,” she tells him, all but glaring at the limb in question.

“Just making sure you’re listening,” he says with a grin.

With a sigh, Lena folds her paper back up and tucks it back into the Burberry tote she has hanging under her arm. “You’re an attention whore.”

“Guilty,” he says with a little salute that has Jess giggling.

“How’s tutoring going, Lena?” Jess asks as they step forward in line.

Lena shrugs. “Fine.”

“And Kara?”

“About what you’d expect,” Lena says which isn’t entirely true – she’s not as dumb as Lena anticipated, but she’s still just insufferable enough to make Lena feel like she spends most of their session rolling her eyes.

“I hear Hockey Haus parties are legendary,” Jess says, a little pointedly. “I can’t believe we’ve never been to one.”

“Because it’s at a place called the Hockey Haus,” Lena points out, looking at her nails and trying to remember if she made a salon appointment for the weekend.

“Well now Lena can score us an invite,” Jack tells Jess, clearly amused by the prospect.

“I don’t think you _need_ an invite,” Lena counters and they step up again. Lena scans the baked goods behind the glass and contemplates ordering a danish.

“It’s always good to have an in with the host,” Jess adds and Lena arches a brow at that, but instead of replying turns to the barista looking at her expectantly and gives him her order.

\--

There aren’t many good bars within stumbling distance of campus, but there are a few gems and inevitably any Saturday night after a party at Jack’s house, they’ll spend twenty minutes trying to decide between them all. Lena immediately vetoes Crossbar from the list because she’s not drunk enough yet, and Jack refuses to go to the 1025 Bar because he claims they served him nonalcoholic beer last time he was there.

They end up landing on a place called the Hive that’s relatively new, mostly because James says he knows the manager and can get them all in for free.

Though it hasn’t been around that long, the place is fairly full when they get there but they’re able to find a table near the back. Jack orders a bucket of beers and James a round of shots and just like that, the second phase of their night has begun.

Lena sticks to white wine in favor of the less than palatable beer Jack’s ordered and after two glasses of it, she’s excusing herself into the crowd in search of the restroom. What she finds instead is Kara Danvers in cut-up jeans and a red flannel standing near the back hallway on her phone.

If it weren’t for the fact that she actually _does_ have to go to the bathroom, Lena would turn around. Maybe she can just walk past her and not notice the way Kara’s forearms look with the cuffs of her flannel folded over them or how her hair is falling over her shoulders or the million other attributes that’s making two-drink-Lena want to press up against Kara’s body like some slut.

Two-drink-Lena seems to have fairly low standards, but maybe that’s because she’s forgetting about the whiskey she’d consumed at Jack’s house before they even made it to the bar.

Irritation at the drunken arousal curling in her gut somehow makes her capable of steeling herself and walking forward, but she still nearly curses when Kara’s attention draws up from her phone to zero in straight on Lena.

“Hey,” Kara says, clearly surprised to see her. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s a bar,” Lena says. “What do you think?”

Kara laughs and with the wine in her stomach, Lena feels the sound straight between her legs. It makes her exasperated with her baser instincts – as if she’d really be attracted to a sloppy jock like Kara in the light of day.

“Are you with people?”

“Yes,” Lena says simply and Kara just grins at that, sliding her phone in the front pocket of her jeans. Lena watches the motion and the way it pulls the flannel up to reveal her brown leather belt.

“This is twice we’ve wound up at the same bar,” Kara says, flirtatious little quirk of her lips. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re stalking me.”

Lena scoffs into an eyeroll. “In your dreams.”

Leaning back against the wall and looking far too good for Lena’s tastes, Kara just shrugs, crosses her arms. A bundle of girls come out of the restroom down the hall, rushing past Lena and forcing her in closer to Kara’s body, close enough that Kara puts one hand out to stabilize her. Kara’s hand on her arm is a little sweaty, but it feels good, warm, and Lena is distracted immediately by it.

“You know, I was thinking - maybe we could be friends,” Kara says. “I’ll buy you a drink.”

“I don’t need you to buy me a drink,” Lena returns. “I can buy one myself.”

This makes Kara laugh, _again._ Lena wants to reach forward and shove the other girl for all the fucking laughing, has half a mind to say something about it. The other half of her mind is still hovering somewhere around the primordial feeling of Kara’s touch on her arm.

Kara opens her mouth to say something – something deeply irritating no doubt – but never gets the chance.

A haughty, “Lena?” interrupts them and Lena feels all the warm annoyance and arousal in her stomach drop like a rock as she recognizes the voice.

“I didn’t expect you to be here,” Veronica says, voice silky, but somehow demeaning. It makes Lena shift in place. 

“You think of me so often as to expect me somewhere?” Lena replies, arching a brow and refusing to be cowed by the sight of her ex-girlfriend confronting her with a new flame.

“I suppose not,” Veronica says, prickling at Lena’s senses. Veronica turns to the redhead at her side. “Excuse my manners, let me introduce you. Lena, this is Margaret. Margaret this is Lena.” Veronica smiles her third most evil smile before adding. “An old toy of mine.”

“What did you just call her?” Kara’s voice interjects, her body suddenly very close to Lena’s and just the littlest bit in front of her. Lena startles, having completely forgotten Kara was there.

There’s a pause as Veronica looks Kara up and down, a look of disdain in the curl of her lip. Kara doesn’t seem to much care, similar to how she doesn’t seem to much care about dressing well or Lena glaring daggers at her throughout their interactions.

“Sorry, do I know you?” Veronica says, sounding the kind of snobby that makes Lena think unerringly of her mother. It truly kills whatever boner she might have had once for the other girl. The contrast between the two women in front of her couldn’t be more stark – Veronica in her designer shoes and perfectly coiffed hairdo and Kara in her ripped jeans and mussed blonde curls.

“What the fuck did you just call her?” Kara repeats. It’s a little more apparent now, with the adrenaline kicking in Lena’s veins, that Kara is somewhat tipsy. But she’s standing tall, her fists clenched. Lena reaches to grab at the fabric over her biceps tugging backward, trying to corral whatever neanderthal instinct is running in Kara right now.

“I believe I might’ve said toy,” Veronica says. Her hand raises between the two of them a smirk on her face. “My name’s Veronica.”

“Well, you seem like a bitch, Veronica,” Kara says. She does not extend her hand to shake, and Lena almost laughs, almost cries but becomes too startled by Kara’s next words to do either. “I’m Kara. I’m Lena’s girlfriend and I think you’ve about overstayed your welcome.”

The threatening way Kara says it is bolstered by her arms crossing over her chest and chin lifting and Veronica’s eyes flicker to Lena a moment in question. Lena, for her part, is a bit shellshocked.

“Is that so?” Veronica is more curious than skeptical, and Lena is so surprised by what Kara’s said that she can’t answer right away. But apparently the helpless way she doesn’t deny it is answer enough, and by the time she thinks to say something, call Kara out for being crazy, she decides against it.

It’s a decision she’ll likely regret in a few minutes when Veronica and her overwhelming aura are out of sight, but for now it feels safer to idle behind Kara’s back and see what unfolds. There’s a fleeting feeling of satisfaction that comes when Lena catches the surprised blink of Veronica’s eyes.

“Lena,” Veronica starts, the name coming out on a laugh, but whatever she’s about to say next gets cut off when Kara steps up to even further block Lena from view.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Kara states firmly. “So back the fuck off.”

Lena’s not sure what’s gotten Kara in such a protective mode, but if it gets Veronica away from them, Lena’s fine with it for the moment, even if there’s a dangerous alarm going off in her head with the way Kara and Veronica stare each other down.

Whatever Kara’s face looks like, it seems to do the trick. With a last lingering glance over Kara’s shoulder, Veronica chuckles lowly and though she’s observing Kara, she speaks to Lena. “You ought to put a leash on this one, Lena,” she says with dark amusement. “I think she might bite.”

“Walk away before I make you,” Kara says firmly, but Veronica keeps smiling anyway.

“We were on our way out anyway,” she says, never one to cede ground willingly. “The crowd here’s not to our taste.” Veronica waltzes off then, with her Margaret on her arm and it leaves Lena and Kara alone again in the long hallway leading towards the bathrooms.

Kara turns to her and puts a placating hand on her bicep, nothing but concern in her eyes when she asks, “Are you okay?”

The question startles Lena out of her shock and her brain starts to rapidly process the last few minutes. When she realizes what just happened, what Kara’s said – _really_ realizes it – anger and panic bubble up so swiftly she snaps at Kara.  “What the _hell_ was that?”

Kara’s hand retreats from her arm quickly. “What was what?”

“That with Veronica,” Lena says, gesturing wildly at the direction Veronica had just retreated. A few people pass them on their way to the bathroom but seem to ignore the hysterical lilt to Lena’s voice. She thinks for a second that it probably just looks like a couple fighting, and that makes her even more irritated.

Kara remains defensive. “I was helping you! She was an asshole.”

“You thought that the best way to _help_ me was to tell her you were my girlfriend?” Lena asks.

Kara looks mystified as to what could be the problem with that plan, but frustration edges into her voice on her response, her body close and tone heated. “Well, it got her to go away didn’t it?”

“And what happens when she finds out that it’s a lie?!” Lena asks, hearing her voice squeak higher, as she looks around to make sure Veronica’s still not lurking in ear shot.

“So what? Why would that even be a big deal?”

Lena pinches the bridge of her nose. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because she’s Veronica _Sinclair_ and she goes to our school and is the most gossipy bitch I’ve ever met,” Lena says, emphasizing the last name strongly to get through to Kara. She should recognize it. The Sinclair family is infamous in the city and certainly on campus. Veronica has eyes just about everywhere and had a reputation for leaving a path of destruction behind her.

“Sinclair like…” Kara’s eyes go wide.

“Like Sinclair Bank, yes,” Lena tells her, wringing her hands in an exasperated manner. Just thinking about how she’s going to backtrack this one if Veronica finds out is giving her anxiety. She’s fairly certain her mother has had Veronica in her pocket for years now and the thought of having a conversation with Lillian about how she’s parading around lying about having a girlfriend - _Lena, how pitiful. Veronica is so worried for you._

“Didn’t she get a professor expelled last year?” Kara asks, her voice hushed now, like she’s just as paranoid as Lena that Veronica’s going to jump back out at them. Her body has slipped closer to Lena’s against the wall in the hallway.

“Professor Flesthon, yes,” Lena says, remembering Veronica’s single-minded vendetta against the man that culminated in the ruination of his career. “Because she has stuff on everyone who’s anyone at this school! My family does business with hers, Kara. I already have to see my ex at family functions enough without the added humiliation of her knowing I faked a fucking girlfriend just so I wouldn’t have to talk to her and her new toy.”

Why she’s explaining all this to Kara, Lena’s not sure. She should just go and fix this problem herself, go tell Veronica that Kara’s hopped up on some bad shrooms or something and laugh it off like it happens all the time. Veronica might buy it if she sold it hard enough.

But she’s irritated at the prospect of having to fix something she didn’t break and she wants to shove at Kara until _she_ fixes it. Everything feels big right now and maybe in the morning it’ll seem blown way out of proportion, but right now, Lena doesn’t fight the overwhelming feeling blurring up her brain.

“You could have said something, Lena,” Kara says, a bit hysterically, brought on likely by Lena’s own irrational panic. Her blue eyes are wide behind her glasses.

“I was in shock!” Lena defends with an irritated snap of her teeth. “Once you put it out there, what was I supposed to do?!"

“What was _I_ supposed to do? Just let that bitch talk about you like that?” Kara asks, every bit as irritated sounding as Lena is. “She called you a _toy_.”

“Oh fuck you,” Lena bites, bristling at the protective look in Kara’s eyes like they know each other well enough for that reaction. “I can handle the way she talks about me just fine.”

“You shouldn’t have to handle the way she talks about you if it’s like that,” Kara says, clearly having stumbled onto a strong sticking point. Lena has half a mind to just punch her in the stomach, fuelled largely by the anxiety rippling through her.

“It isn’t your job to tell her to fix her attitude,” Lena says. “And I don’t need you to save me, either.”

“Well, I’m sorry that I was trying to be nice,” Kara says, not sounding at all apologetic. Her arms cross again, and Lena’s eyes can’t help but drop to the clear muscles of her arms. The mix of anger and a newfound arousal and panic make her want to scream.

“Trying to be nice by constructing an embarrassing lie to tell the school’s biggest gossip whore?!”

“You think pretty highly of yourself if you really think she’s going to run around telling everyone we’re dating,” Kara points out and Lena wants to throttle her.

“You know who I am, don’t you?” Lena says. Kara laughs, mid-argument, her head actually tilting back and looking up at the ceiling.

“I’m pretty sure you’re just my physics tutor,” Kara says in a surprisingly amusing impression of  a frat guy sort of moron, shrugging. “Of course I fucking know who you are, I’m not an idiot! Look, I get that you’re freaking out, but what is she going to do?”

“I don’t know what she’s going to do,” Lena says feeling a throbbing at the back of her neck from how hysterical everything’s getting. “That’s what makes her dangerous.”

Kara seems to realize that Lena is reaching the maximum threshold for pure and unadulterated panic, because she takes a deep breath, her hand reaching out to grip ahold of Lena’s wrist for a second before Lena jerks it away.

“It’ll be fine,” Kara says. “We won’t tell anyone, she’ll think I was just a dumbass, and it’ll blow over. You’ll be fine.”

“Of course we’re not going to tell anyone,” Lena hisses, barely biting back the urge to flick Kara in the temple. The ridiculousness of the situation is making Lena’s head spin and she reaches up to rub at her temples. When Kara looks to speak again, Lena stops her with a lift of her hand. “No, stop. Stop talking. I can’t think.”

Kara shuts her mouth promptly.

“I’m going to the bathroom and when I come back out, I don’t want to see you,” Lena says, thinking the only thing she can really do in this situation is to ignore it. A flash of irritation crosses Kara’s face, but whatever, Lena had been trying to have a good night and all of this is killing her buzz and she _really_ needs to pee.

Without another word she turns and stomps into the restroom, but not before she hears the heavy sigh that escapes Kara’s lips.

\--

The rest of the night goes considerably better, though it takes switching to whiskey sours for Lena to get rid of the annoyance from her altercation with Kara and Veronica.

A quick scan of the bar tells Lena that Veronica actually _has_ left the premises for greener pastures and though she sees Kara’s posted up at a table corner with half the hockey team, the two of them stay in their respective corners until bar close.

“You know, Kara Danvers has been like _glaring_ at you all night,” Jack tells her, bumping into her shoulder drunkenly. His cheeks are flushed and his eyes glossy and Lena has to lick at the thickness she feels in her mouth in order to answer. Maybe that last drink was a bad idea. “Or like. _Seducting._ It’s unclear.”

“I ran into her earlier,” she says, glancing over to where Kara’s standing in a corner talking to some girl Lena doesn’t know. It looks flirtatious from this angle – the way Kara’s got her arm up on the back of the girl’s chair even as she leans back in her own. There’s a smile on her face but when she looks away from the girl to grab her drink and her eyes meet Lena’s, it drops into a frown.

“You piss in her Wheaties or something?” Jack asks, laughing at himself enough that she rolls her eyes.

“We got into a fight.”

“You know each other well enough to have a fight?” Jack looks incredulous and Lena’s brain gets fuzzy all over again from the lie Kara had told earlier and the truth.

She settles on a firm, “It’s none of your business.”

The lights of the bar turn up abruptly, signaling the end of the night and the crowd groans as they start to shuffle out.

She catches Kara’s eye again when they’re leaving – Kara’s got one arm around the girl she’d been talking to all night and she’s leading her out along with the group of her teammates. Kara’s face is impassive, but she watches Lena for a long moment before turning away.

\--

Sunday morning – or more like afternoon by the time she finally wakes up – brings a headache and an all too vivid recollection of the previous night’s events. Lena turns to groan into her pillow and ponders the virtue of just never leaving her room again.

There are about sixteen texts on her phone and a few missed calls and when she hears her mother’s voicemail she feels her hangover get worse somehow.

“Lena, I’ve heard another interesting rumor about a new girlfriend you’ve failed to mention. And to hear about it from Veronica Sinclair, no less. You know she’s still so stuck on you and I don’t think I need to remind you about –”

Lena clicks out of the message before she has to hear more. That’s something best dealt with after she takes about twelve ibuprofen and drinks a gallon of water. She should have fucking known Veronica would go running to Lillian like a little pet. It makes her want to throw something at the wall.

The texts are thankfully easier to deal with. A couple from James asking _do you remember how we got home last night?_

Jack’s sent her two pictures and a video from the bar last night and Lena tries to watch it, but the sound is so loud and discordant that Lena’s head throbs and she files it away for later.

Jess’s text is an amusing: _did we get food last night because I have a lyft receipt for like a hundo and I’m vaguely remembering speaking spanish in the taco bell drive-thru_

The last one is an early morning message from Kara and all it says is _can we meet up today and talk? I feel bad about last night._

In the light of day, Lena does feel a little regretful about her panicked reaction to running into Veronica. Not because she’d been wrong about how Veronica was out to ruin her life, but because it’s not Kara’s fault she didn’t know that, and Lena probably didn’t need to yell at her and make everything seem so dramatic. Even if it really, really was.

She texts Kara back _I’m free later tonight_ before setting her phone back on its charging pad and heading to the kitchen for coffee.

\--

They meet that night when Lena feels like she’s finally prepared to join the living again and has gotten enough of her work done to afford taking a break. Kara texts her to meet in a park that borders Lake Kandor east of campus. Lena finds her on a park bench there looking like she’d just been on a run. At least that’s what Lena hopes Kara’s just been doing, considering the sweaty way her hair is poking out from beneath her baseball cap and the damp spots in the grey of her t-shirt.

“Hey,” Kara says, scooting over on the bench for Lena to sit down.

“Hey,” Lena parrots, not nearly as irritated as she’d been the night before, hyped up on chardonnay and panic upon seeing her ex.

“So,” Kara starts in a slow drawl of the word, but Lena interrupts her.

“I’m sorry I got so crazy last night, Veronica’s just a sore spot and she makes me go a little insane,” Lena says, laughing at herself. The lingering dredges of her hangover and the quiet way the sun’s setting over the lake is making Lena feel softer than normal.

Kara clearly hadn’t expected the apology. There’s shock on her face that Lena rolls her eyes at a bit.

“It was still really stupid to pretend we’re dating, but I probably didn’t need to yell at you,” Lena adds and Kara laughs softly.

“Actually, that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“About how I yelled at you?” Lena asks, arching a brow in challenge. She already apologized, Kara doesn’t get to dress her down for it.

“No,” Kara says with a chuckle. “I was thinking about pretending to date.”

“About how stupid it is?”

Kara pauses. The silence of it and the way her jaw works around like she’s picking her words out carefully makes Lena think maybe Kara’s about to say something _stupider_.

And so she does. “Actually, I was thinking about how I think we should do it.”

Lena blinks. “You’ve lost your mind.”

“Think about it,” Kara entreats, shifting a bit to better face Lena. “You were so worried about Veronica finding out it was a lie. What if we just make it…not a lie?”

Squinting at Kara like she’s a child, Lena nearly laughs. “It would still be a lie.”

“Sure,” Kara acknowledges, “But we’d be the only ones that know that. We date for a few months, make everyone think we’re together, break up publicly when it feels natural. Veronica never has reason to think it was a lie and,” Kara chafes her hands together. “No harm no foul.”

It’s an illogical, ridiculous plan clearly born from the mind of someone who’s been hit too many times in the head with a vulcanized piece of rubber. And yet, something in Lena’s brain whispers that it’s not completely without its merits. Maybe it’s the crazy Luthor part of her. _It’s all about how you play the board, Lena._

Not having to worry about setting Veronica straight or talking to her mother about how the rumor she’d heard was just that has its virtues. And even if Kara spends most of her time bothering her with inanities, she’s nice - protective too. A good buffer to have on her arm whenever she’s getting shaken down by drunk college students eager to get an in with a Luthor. She feels more susceptible to the idea than she really should be.

“What’s in it for you?” Lena asks, still skeptical.

Kara twists the strings of her headphones around in her hand, shrugs a shoulder. “My adoptive mother Eliza and my sister have been on my case about meeting a nice girl and bringing her home,” Kara says with a touch of exasperation in her tone, though it’s rounded with affection. “They think it will give me _much needed_ stability.”

“I don’t think this qualifies,” Lena tells her, eyebrows raising at the mention of something like a _parent_. The subtle slip that Kara’s adopted isn’t lost on Lena and she files that away for another time, surprised to find something in common with the other girl.

“So if we do this,” Kara says, ignoring Lena’s comment. “You have to agree to come make nice with my family for me, get them off my case for a while.”

Looking out at the lake, Lena weighs the pros and cons of the situation and tries to decide how necessary it is – how bad the fallout would be in telling her mother that Veronica heard wrong or worse, that she’d lied.

A more enjoyable thought floats across her consciousness. The look on her mother’s face when Lena tells her she’s dating a hockey player that wears socks with her sandals, will probably lose all her teeth before graduation in some sort of puck-related incident and _worse,_ that they met because Lena’s _tutoring_ her.

Just thinking of the horrified shape of Lillian’s mouth makes Lena start to think this plan isn’t entirely terrible. It could be fun, even. If she can just get past the idea of being romantically linked with Kara, that is.

“What about all those girls you bring upstairs on the weekends?” Lena asks. Kara snorts, shaking her head and watching a dog passing by with its owner.

“Those are usually just really drunk girls that seem to find me at parties. I bring them up to my room so they can sleep it off,” Kara says, her shoulder raising up and dropping in a hesitant shrug. “I’m a lot less worried about you puking in my bed. So it’d be an improvement.”

The image makes Lena grimace, but she pushes past it.

“You want to pretend to date,” Lena says, enunciating the words slowly. “Even though we barely know each other.”

Kara laughs. A biker passes them on the narrow lake path. “We’ll have to change that,” she says simply.

Lena’s nose scrunches up a bit, but she can already feel herself giving in. “I suppose.”

“Eliza will think I’m settling down and your ex will think you’re happily moved on and all we have to do is smile at each other a little more for a few months,” Kara says with a convincing little quirk of her lips.

Maybe it’s reckless, but it’s actually starting to sound like a good idea. The satisfaction of sticking it to both Veronica and Lillian is really all Kara should have led with.

“Okay,” Lena says softly, hoping she won’t regret this. “Let’s try it.”

Kara grins and sticks her hand out. Lena shakes it, but makes a good show of wiping her palm off on her shirt after she’s done. Kara doesn’t seem all that bothered by it, just starts laughing at her.


	2. october part i

Lena spends the next few days considering calling the whole thing off at least twenty times. 

On Wednesday, it starts in the morning when her brother texts her an article about a female Chinese billionaire who’s married a gorgeous actress in what she assumes is an attempt to be inclusive as he says something resembling _it’s okay, there are models out there for you, too._ The thought alone of Lex and Kara in the same room together has her stomach turning. With what, she’s not sure. 

Then, later, on her way to her electrical engineering class, she spots Nia Nal and another girl arguing over something at the coffee shop. Nia manages to spot her and a delighted smile crosses her face as she whispers something to her companion and waggles her fingers Lena’s direction. Lena ignores them.  

At trivia, there’s an unfortunate category called What Rhymes with Puck Me that’s about a mix of sex positions and hockey rules that feels, honestly, too on the nose to be anything but a cosmic joke. Especially considering Jack and Jess spend the entire time trying to egg her into texting Kara for help.

What keeps her from pulling the trigger, in the end, is the reminder of Veronica’s smarminess, and the sound of her mother’s voice preserved in numerous sardonic voicemails. Kara is, by far and away, one of the most irritating people she’s ever met, but if she’s willing to serve as a barrier between Lena and her mother, or Lena and Veronica, Lena’s not stupid enough to turn that down. 

There’s something selfless and genuine about Kara’s offer to help - sure, Kara’d acted like she was getting something out of the deal too, but Lena knows it’s far more lopsided in her favor. 

So Lena can put up with the exasperating way Kara is always laughing, or wearing some ridiculous outfit, or teasing Lena relentlessly. It’s all a means to an end, anyway. 

That’s what Lena reminds herself when Kara is being particularly insufferable. 

“So what does a girlfriend of esteemed It Girl Lena Luthor do exactly?” Kara asks Thursday when they meet at the Haus for tutoring. She’s sprawled out across her bed amongst a messy pile of papers and textbooks, and when Lena looks over, Kara’s wiggling her eyebrows idiotically.

“Don’t call me that,” Lena tells her, barely resisting chucking a pencil at the smirk the order pulls across Kara’s face.

“Seriously,” Kara insists, sitting up on her elbow. It crinkles the few pieces of paper she’s now propped up on and Lena really hopes those aren’t the notes she meticulously copied for Kara just that morning. “What am I expected to do? Take you shopping? Order you…I don’t know…what do Luthors eat? Foie gras? Oysters?” Kara pauses ominously, a wicked look in her eye. “Babies?”

“Fuck you,” Lena says even though she can tell Kara’s just goading her. It doesn’t stop her from chucking the hockey glove that’s sat on Kara’s desk in the direction of the bed. It’d been smelling anyway.

“I’m just asking,” Kara says defensively, laughing when the glove fails to make it as far as the bed and lands with a thud on the scuffed wood of Kara’s bedroom. “If I’m going to play the part of your girlfriend, I want to be prepared. Do my homework.”

“Have you considered the virtue of doing your _actual_ homework?”

“Considered it, sure,” Kara says, shrugging her shoulder.

Lena makes a noise through her teeth, but it only seems to make Kara laugh again.

“I’m just trying to figure out what our _plan_ is,” Kara points out and Lena can’t deny the same concern had been egging the back of her mind all night as well. “I feel like you of all people would like to have some kind of plan for this long-con. Like, should I be getting some fancy outfit for meeting your parents? Do you need me to stock my fridge with like…” Kara makes a face. “Kombucha?”

“I only have the one parent,” Lena corrects, unsure why that’s the point her brain sticks on, but it does. “And I hate to think of what you’d consider a fancy outfit.” Her eyes roam up the obnoxious pair of cut-off sweatpants Kara’s wearing to the ratty-looking t-shirt she’s got on – sleeves cut off to reveal unfairly toned biceps.

Kara looks down at herself, poking a finger through a hole at the hem of her shirt. “What, this isn’t kosher for the Luthor Family Christmas Party?”

Lena’s glare goes frosty, both at the consistent mention of her last name and Kara’s unflappable ability to tease her. “Maybe I’d talk to you about a plan if you could take anything halfway seriously.”

Kara’s smile softens to something less teasing and she puts a hand up in concession.

“Okay, sorry,” Kara says, and she takes a moment to wipe the smile off her face in favor of a more bland serious expression. “What does a girlfriend of Lena Luthor do? For real?”

“Do you want my mother’s version or my friends’ version?” Lena asks, huffing as she stares down at the problem set in front of her that they’ve yet to get to. She has a feeling Kara’s avoiding it on purpose.

“I feel like I should have an option for your version,” Kara says. 

“This whole deal is about other people,” Lena says. “If I wanted someone to care about what I wanted out of a girlfriend, I’d get a real girlfriend.”

Kara’s expression is blatantly unimpressed with that answer. 

“I just feel like - you know, if we’re going to be spending a lot of time together doing whatever it is your mother or your friends want, then maybe there are things I could do to make it easier for you. Like, if you have a favorite ice cream - ”

“My mother and Jess agree that ice cream is fattening and if one must indulge it should be in gelato,” Lena says, rolling her eyes. Kara snorts, shuffling some papers around.

“Right. But what’s your favorite ice cream flavor?” Kara asks. Lena stares at the odd drawings tacked to the wall in front of Kara’s desk and considers, again, cancelling this deal and engaging in a life free of Kara Danvers being attached to her name. 

“Moose tracks,” Lena says. Kara nods in appreciation, a smile on her face that gives off a sort of aggravating glow. “My mother would expect you to have a 401k, be polite to the point of blandness, and to, quote _challenge me._ ”

Kara laughs and Lena feels her lips pull up at the sound. “What does that even mean, challenge you? Like to a duel?” 

“Mmm, yes,” Lena says, deadpan as can be. “Traditional pistol dueling between couples is a bit of a Luthor tradition.”  

It looks like Kara believes her for a bit, blinking widely before she seems to catch wind of Lena’s sarcasm and lets out a loud, boisterous laugh. “Did you just tell a joke?” Kara asks, sounding baffled by the prospect, but laughing so brightly that Lena smiles even as she rolls her eyes. 

“My mother has some sort of vague notion that partners should intellectually challenge each other and that some of my past…” Lena makes a motion. “Not everyone has been equal to the task.” 

Laughter dying off, Kara shrugs a shoulder like Lillian’s standards are some casual affair. “I’m sure I can pull that off.” 

Lena arches a brow, but decides against telling Kara she’s out of her mind if she thinks she’s going to intellectually impress Lillian Luthor. A small kindness, perhaps. “Well, we’ll see I suppose.” 

Kara hums, nodding a bit. “Eliza and Alex are pretty simple. Just like, old-fashioned affection and support.” It’s said kind of pointedly and Lena lifts her eyes to the ceiling at the smirk on Kara’s face. 

“How boring,” she says. “Can’t you achieve that with a dog?” 

“I already tried that,” Kara laughs, “they weren’t satisfied and now Krypto lives with Eliza.” 

Lena makes a face at the unusual name, but doesn’t comment and Kara continues on with a much more hesitant, “Actually, I’ve been thinking,” she starts ominously and Lena adopts a wary look that Kara chuckles at. “Nothing bad, I swear.” 

“Sure,” she says skeptically, not pointing out that Kara _thinking_ is how they got into this mess in the first place. 

“I don’t know if you’d be down for this, but I promised Eliza I’d come home for fall break and I think it would be, I mean she’d probably be pretty impressed, and like it could be a good way for us to - I mean it’s just an idea, but I was thinking and -”

“Kara, spit it out,” Lena commands, but she wants to laugh at the messy tumble of words that seem to spill endlessly out of Kara’s mouth. 

“Right, sorry,” Kara says, shaking her head at herself. “I thought it’d be cool if you’d come with me. Home, I mean. For fall break.” 

“Fall break,” Lena says, blinking down briefly at the planner she has lying open on Kara’s desk. “Fall break as in two weeks from now?” 

“Yeah,” Kara says. “Friday to Wednesday. I have a game that weekend, so it wouldn’t be the whole thing.”

“You want me to meet your mother in two weeks,” Lena says, somewhat shocked that Kara would be so idiotic as to even suggest this. 

“Adoptive mother,” Kara corrects, as though she says it all the time. Lena chalks it up somewhere in her mind, that Kara doesn’t quite think of this Eliza in the same way Lena thinks of Lillian. “I know it sounds crazy, but Eliza is way easy in comparison to Alex or my idiot teammates. She’ll just be happy with how you’re a genius and that you’re like _with me_ and stuff. And we probably won’t even have to spend that much time with her, either - I can show you around Midvale and go cow tipping or go to Eli’s.”

“Cow tipping,” Lena says, her voice dry and heart despairing. It takes her a few seconds to realize Kara is laughing at her. “Fuck you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kara says, plopping back on her bed. “Think about it, maybe? It’ll be a good opportunity to like...get to know each other and practice in front of other people away from school. Saying we’re dating is one thing, showing it is another.”

It’s not the _worst_ idea, but Lena fully intends to say no anyway. She settles on a soft _sure_ instead, however, because she doesn’t want it to seem like she rejected the idea out of hand. “Have you actually _told_ your friends we’re dating? Or thought about how you’re going to convince them.” 

Kara’s expression seems to convey she’s not concerned over the difficulty of such an endeavor either and Lena can’t choke back the scoff that escapes her mouth. 

Nevertheless, Kara smiles, shrugs a shoulder. “It won’t take much. You’ve been up in my room on weekdays, so they already think something’s up with us.”

“I’ve been up here because I’m your tutor,” Lena points out, arms crossing. She can practically feel a headache storming behind her eyes. “Not because you’re getting laid.”

The way Kara’s lips quirk up makes Lena want to roll her eyes, but she knows it’ll lessen the effect of her glare so she focuses on keeping her gaze steely so that Kara answers.

“Yeah,” Kara says, drawing the word out onto a little laugh that has Lena’s eyes narrowing even further. “They don’t think you’re tutoring me.”

The implication is all too clear. Lena balks at it, offended and prepared to throw something at Kara’s casual smirk, anything. She even glances around her for ammunition, but at the lack of anything satisfying gives up the notion in favor of indignantly squeaking, “You’ve been telling your friends I’m sleeping with you?"

“No,” Kara denies quickly, sitting up at the accusation, expression confused. “What? Of course not. That’s not what I’m saying at all.”

“Why else would they think _something’s up_?”

A grimace flashes on Kara’s face, quick, but obvious. “They just know that I…” There’s something in the way Kara pauses, white teeth poking out against her bottom lip like she’s resisting against admitting something. “I don’t really need a tutor.”

It takes a second to hear her, but when she does, Lena laughs, thinking it a joke. The sound turns incredulous when Kara doesn’t do the same.

“They think you don’t need a tutor,” Lena repeats, her tone indicating just how believable that is.

“They _know_ I don’t,” Kara corrects, face impassive.

“We’re talking about the same teammates that call you a, what was it again?” Lena arches a brow. “A known dumbass?”

A flush takes root in Kara’s cheeks, her lips twisting. “Nia wasn’t – she meant it about something else.”

Lena can’t catch on to what Kara means and her expression must show as much because Kara’s eyes dart away and the pink in her cheeks deepens.

“She was talking about,” Kara gestures between them as if to explain and when Lena continues to look at her expectantly, Kara sighs. “Because you were in my room and stuff and I don’t really…do that…like ever.”

Lena hates the way Kara adjusts her glasses as she explains, looking away again and laughing at herself in a way that’s all together too charming considering the still ridiculous looking ensemble she’s wearing and the fact that just twenty minutes ago she watched Kara dip an Oreo in a jar of peanut butter without blinking an eye.

In the interest of making Kara just _stop_ looking like that, Lena presses her lips together, unimpressed. “That still doesn’t explain why they think you don’t need a tutor.”

Kara looks back at Lena, still red in the cheeks, but grinning in the same way that makes Lena want to look away. She doesn’t. Of course. Because Lena Luthor isn’t cowed by girls with holes in their socks and posters of _D2: The Mighty Ducks_ on their walls.

“I don’t need a tutor, like, brainwise,” Kara says simply. “I’m just mandated by the athletic program to have one.”

That explains next to nothing. “Why?”

Kara chews at her bottom lip a moment. “I flunked this class last semester.”

A loud laugh bursts forth from Lena. “That’s a pretty good indicator you need a tutor.”

Sighing, Kara rolls her eyes a little, even if her lips quirk up at Lena’s laughter. “I didn’t flunk because I didn’t understand physics. I just had a really bad semester last year.”

“Sure,” Lena deadpans and Kara just makes a face.

There’s a long pause that stretches between them, thick with Lena’s disbelief and what seems to be Kara’s consideration over something. Eventually, Kara’s shoulders deflate and she scoots back on her bed until her back is resting up against the wall, a knee pulling up to prop her arm on languidly.

“My estranged bio aunt and uncle showed up unexpectedly and basically tried to rob me of my dead parents’ estate about ten years after their death,” Kara says, delivery so dry that it takes a second for Lena to catch the weight of what she’s saying. “I missed a month of class and the final and almost dropped out of school. I practically had to beg to stay on the hockey team.”

Lena doesn’t know what to say other than a soft, “Oh.”

“This was part of the deal,” Kara says, making a small gesture towards Lena. “That’s also kind of why Eliza and Alex think a girlfriend would be good for me.” Kara’s head lolls back against the wall, her face expressing clearly how much stock she puts in that idea. “I went a little bit crazy. According to them.”

“And what do you think?” Lena asks quietly, trying to catch up to all that’s been said and find whatever sympathy she can muster.

Kara shrugs slowly, looking somewhat contemplative. “I think I had a really bad semester last year,” she says, wry twist to her lips and thick sounding chuckle that actually manages to tug just the slightest at Lena’s chest.

“Certainly sounds like it.”

“So yeah, that’s why I flunked.” Kara’s eyes lift to the ceiling briefly. “Not because I’m an idiot. Physics isn’t _that_ hard.”

Lena’s still not sure she’s unpacked everything from dead parents to _physics isn’t that hard_ , but she keeps her brain moving forward best she can. “Why don’t you just explain all that to the tutoring office?”

“I tried. That’s what I was doing when we ran into each other at the academic affairs building and you tried to glare my very injured face off.”

It still feels like she’s getting whiplash and Lena’s jaw works her mouth open and closed wordlessly a moment, the only emotion she can seem to keep a grasp on is indignation.

“So you’ve just been playing me this whole time?”

Sure, Kara had been picking up the material easily and they hadn’t had any issue getting through the problem sets, but Lena had attributed that to her tutoring skills. Not some kind of hidden affinity Kara had for the subject.

“No,” she denies, a dusting of embarrassment in her cheeks. “I just figured it was easier to let you tutor me once a week than spend the next month arguing with the tutoring office and the athletic office and Professor Doolidge over whether I needed a tutor or not to qualify for the hockey roster.”

Lena blinks. “So you’re just lazy.”

Kara rolls her eyes as Lena adds, “And kind of a moron.”

An infuriating smirk takes shape on Kara’s lips at the insult. “Can you blame me? You’re such a joy to be around, why wouldn’t I contrive a way to hang out more?”

Refusing to be baited, Lena lifts her chin. “You’ve been wasting my time for a month,” she points out, a hint of heat under the words. It’d only been three sessions, but _still_.

It does the trick. Kara’s smug expression fades into something more contrite. “You’d be surprised by how shitty the Athletic Department can be about rules like that. Even if I had appealed, there was a chance they’d say no. I’m sorry you feel used.” Kara drops her leg down to the bed, her hands falling in her lap as her fingers twist together. “It just felt easier.”

Lena’s not sure what to say. She thinks of their first encounter, of bumping into Kara in the academic affairs building…

“When did you decide that it was easier to go along with it?”

Kara’s cheeks go immediately pink, her knees pulling up as if hiding from something and the answer becomes clearer to Lena. “I’d been thinking of it way before I met you, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“You were still trying to get out of it when you nearly bulldozed me over that day,” Lena points out with an incredulous chuckle.

“Yes, and you were so nice to me that day that it instantly convinced me I needed to spend more time around this irresistibly charming, pretty girl who’d spent two years ignoring my presence in a class every semester,” Kara says, sarcastic as can be.

A flush crawls up Lena’s neck at the accusation and the way Kara’s voice wraps around the word _pretty_ , but whatever, Kara was being an asshole that day with her sunglasses and the little smirk she had when Lena had slammed into her.

“You think I’m pretty?” Lena says, matching Kara’s tone to a tee.

Kara laughs, but surprisingly doesn’t seem embarrassed by the question. “Is that something up for dispute and not just objectively true?”

It chokes something thick in Lena’s throat which is absurd because Lena’s been called pretty thousands of times in hundreds of different ways by people so much more appealing than Kara Danvers. But there’s a note of unabashed sincerity in the way Kara just puts it out there and doesn’t take it back. There’s a slow tingle of heat that spreads out under Lena’s skin and she hates the way this girl she doesn’t even really know manages to affect her like this.

Like, Lena _knows_ she’s pretty, so what the hell does she care if Kara’s somehow smart enough to see the obvious. 

“I mean, you’d _have_ to be pretty to make up for your personality,” Kara adds, completely pulling any other feeling out of Lena other than outrage. 

The only thing even close to Lena is a pillow at the end of Kara’s bed and she stands up to chuck it straight at Kara’s face. It hits against Kara’s laughter and though Lena’s doing a good job of acting pissed, she wants to laugh at the sound, at the way Kara pretends to cower away from it.

“I have a great personality, just so you know,” Lena says, hating the way it sounds immediately, but sticking to her guns.

“Yeah, you’re so nice all the time. How could I forget?”

“I’m your tutor, I don’t have to be nice to you.”

Kara _tsks_ , setting the pillow to the side and shaking a finger at Lena. “Sure, but my _girlfriend_ …she should probably learn how to be nice to me.” 

Lena sighs, exasperation dripping off the sound.

They manage to settle down, Kara getting her laughter under control and Lena picking up her things now that she’s realized Kara has no need of her excellent tutoring skills.

“I’d say I’ll see you next week, but now that I know these sessions are pointless,” Lena says, sliding her tablet into the back pocket of her bag.

Kara’s stuffing papers haphazardly in her drawers in a way that has Lena itching to reopen them and rearrange the whole thing. “Actually, I was kind of thinking we could just use the sessions as like get-to-know-each-other time,” Kara suggests, eyes lifting to meet Lena’s.

Frankly, Lena was a bit happy to no longer have to spend more time than necessary in the Hockey Haus, but Kara continues on, making more sense than Lena’d like.

“It’d help us pull off this whole dating thing,” Kara says and Lena can’t deny that. Even tonight when they were accomplishing nothing she’d learned some crucial details about Kara Danvers – like a pair of dead parents, an inheritance and an estranged, gold-digging family. “And if you decide to come with me on break, it’ll be good prep.” 

“I suppose you’re – ” Lena licks the distaste of admitting Kara’s right out of her mouth. “That’s not a terrible idea.”

Kara laughs. “It’s a _good_ idea,” she corrects. “The team thinks we’re fooling around, we get pretty much uninterrupted study time, you still get paid doing nothing and I get to stay on the team.” Kara dusts her hands together. “Win. Win.”

Lena hums, playing at considering it all when she knows Kara’s got a point. It makes sense.

“Come on, you know I’m right,” Kara cajoles, infuriating smile on her face as she stands between Lena and the door.

“What I know is that I’m regretting this entire endeavor,” Lena says, shifting her bag onto her shoulder and fixing Kara with as unimpressed an expression as she can muster, but as is becoming commonplace, Kara just laughs.

\--

“What are you going to tell _your_ friends?” Kara asks, quiet as they step across the lawn of her house towards Lena’s car.

Kara had insisted on walking her all the way out there because that’s what _Kara Danvers does for girlfriends_ and Lena’s trying to outpace her to no avail.

“About what?” Lena asks, unlocking her car, but failing to open the door before Kara dodges in front of her and does it for her.

“Dating me,” Kara clarifies as Lena slides in. “Like why you hadn’t told them before or whatever?”

“Easy,” Lena answers breezily. “I’ll say I was too embarrassed to say anything before.”

She closes the door on Kara’s laughter, but watches the image of her fade in her rearview mirror as she drives away and doesn’t realize she’s smiling until she’s pulling into her own apartment complex.

\--

It’s not as easy as Lena had hoped it would be. Telling her friends.

She waits until Sunday to do it. They’re nursing hangovers and waiting for their food delivery to arrive, an old movie playing softly on the television across the room. Lena’s mouth still feels a bit like it’s full of cotton and there’s a lingering pressure in the back of her skull that ibuprofen hasn’t soothed yet, but she just wants to get it over with so she blurts the story out a few minutes after Jess returns from the kitchen with cold Gatorade.

“Kara Danvers,” Jack deadpans, looking like he might still be drunk from last night. “Like your tutoring assignment?”

“The hockey player?” Jess asks, squinting at her from the other end of the couch. She’s wearing sunglasses even though all the shades are drawn in Lena’s apartment.

“Yup,” Lena answers them both with a defiant pop of her lips.

“You are _not_ ,” Jess says as Jack lets out a bark of a laugh, coated with disbelief.

“I am.”

“There’s no way,” Jack adds, exchanging laughing looks with Jess that are doing nothing for Lena’s headache.

“Except that I am.”

“You’ve barely known her a month,” Jack points out. “Unless you’ve had some secret tryst you didn’t tell us about.”

“We’ve had classes together since freshman year,” Lena counters vaguely, to the harmonious scoffing of her friends.

“So…what? You had one tutoring session with her and fell madly in love?”

“I’m not _in love_ with her,” Lena says, unable to stop from cringing. Jess laughs.

“Yeah, Jacky, don’t accuse Lena of something so torrid,” Jess says, voice nasally in clear imitation of her mother. “A Luthor in love? How pedestrian.” Lena swats at her.

Jack affects a look of faux innocence. “Just trying to decipher how we got from hate-stalking this girl’s Instagram to dating her.”

Lena crosses her arms over her chest. “Does it matter how we got there?”

“Yes,” Jack and Jess respond in unison, laughing at each other after it happens.

“Come on, Lena. It’s just hard to believe,” Jess says as Jack continues to chuckle. “I’ve seen the women you date, and Kara doesn’t exactly make it on the list of Lena Luthor’s Type.”

“I don’t have a type,” Lena denies even though she knows Jess is completely on the mark.

Kara ticks off next to no boxes when it comes to what Lena looks for in a woman. Admittedly, her choices up until now have been motivated by her mother’s standards more than Lena’s own, but they’ve been fairly consistent across the board.

Still, she’s a tad offended. Sure Kara may do irritating things like respond to Lena’s texts with memes and emojis instead of actual words, but she’s attractive and though Lena would never admit it aloud, she doesn’t _hate_ every minute she spends with her.

“Name one thing you like about her,” Jack says. Lena immediately thinks of about a million dumb things she could say - Kara’s absurd hat collection, her forearms, how angry she had got when Veronica had called her a toy. She thankfully doesn’t have to sort through all those thoughts, because Jack scoffs when she pauses.

“She must be good in bed,” Jess murmurs, mostly to herself.

Lena nearly admits that she wouldn’t know before Jack is adding to the conversation with, “Do we know anyone that’s slept with her?”

Jess seems to muse on the question. “Don’t think so, but I can ask around.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Jack says. “I’ll ask James. He knows everyone who’s fucked everyone on this campus.

“Excuse me,” Lena interrupts. “Can we maybe not discuss the sexual history of the girl I’m dating?”

“Sure,” Jess replies far too easily. “We can discuss her sexual _present_ instead.”

“Too true,” Jack adds. “We can go right to the source. So. Lena. Is she good in bed?”

With an irritated set to her brow, slouches farther down the couch. “Fantastic,” she deadpans. “Unstoppable. Best I’ve ever had.”

“Such a convincing endorsement,” Jack laughs. “Give us some details.”

“I’m not discussing my sex life,” Lena says, closing her eyes against a headache that’s only deepened.

“Because it doesn’t exist or because you’ve suddenly become a prude?” Jess says snottily enough that Lena shoves her heel into the nearest body part of Jess she can reach.

“Because I’m hungover and you’re both unbearable right now.” Lena pinches the bride of her nose. “I’m dating Kara Danvers, it’s a thing whether you believe it or not.”

There’s an ominous silence, but Lena doesn’t open her eyes. Just silently begs for their delivery to get there and put her out of her misery.

“So you’ll bring her to the party Saturday?” Jack asks, failing to make the question sound casual.

Jess makes a pleased noise like Jack’s tripped her up somehow and Lena’s too exhausted for all this.

“Of course.”

Jack chortles, delighted sounding. “Great, can’t wait to meet her.”

\--

Monday means her shared philosophy lecture with Kara. By the time she gets to class and plops down in the far back row seat, Kara’s already there and handing her a tall plastic coffee cup with Kara’s name scrawled across the side in black marker.

“What’s this?” Lena asks, picking it up gingerly. It’s warm against her hands and Kara’s already holding a second cup, leaned back in her chair. She is, unfortunately wearing socks, slides and a pair of shorts that naturally have rips in them.

“Coffee,” Kara supplies, taking a sip of her own and smirking at Lena over the rim like she’s won some kind of competition.

“I see that, genius,” Lena snarks, but she takes a sip of the coffee nonetheless.

“Just felt like bringing my _girlfriend_ coffee,” Kara says and it’s loud enough that the other students milling about as they find their seats can surely hear her. Lena half expects someone to turn around and look at them with a look of clear doubt, but no one does. The reality of their new arrangement starts to make itself known and Lena realizes she’s going to have to start shifting her behavior if this is going to work.

“Something wrong with that?” Kara asks, the nudge for Lena to respond clear.

“Of course not, darling,” Lena says, saccharine smile that has Kara huffing a laugh out between her closed lips. “Thank you.”

Kara’s arm extends over the back of Lena’s chair, her voice lowering as she hovers in near to give them privacy. “You might want to work on your _my girlfriend is the best_ smile because that one isn’t going to fool a blind man.”

Lena takes another sip of her coffee, smiles at a student shuffling by in front of them and waits for him to pass before she eyes Kara with disdain. “I drink extra shot americanos for the record. My girlfriend should know that if she wants to earn a smile.”

Kara laughs, leaning back away from Lena to slouch down in her chair. “Should have known you’d drink something disgusting.”

Class begins before she can even formulate a reply.

It’s oddly distracting to sit next to Kara after that – as if the sudden awareness of how their relationship has subtly shifted is all Lena can think about. It makes her all too cognizant of Kara’s body next to hers, the way her arm stays slung across the back of Lena’s chair and the clean scent of what must be her perfume.

Paying attention to anything other than every movement of Kara’s body becomes irritatingly difficult for Lena and she considers for a moment elbowing Kara in the ribs to get her to move away.

Before she can put such a plan into action, however, Kara’s ripping a piece of paper out of her notebook and scribbling across it. Lena does well at not trying to read what Kara’s writing, but it doesn’t matter because Kara folds the note up and slides it to Lena as if they’re teenagers in high school.

It’s such a bizarre action Lena nearly flicks the note away from her but restrains herself and instead plucks it open to discover its contents.

_what’s your favorite food_

Oh, cute, Kara thinks they’re going to pass get-to-know-each-other notes to each other in the middle of class like children. Fat fucking chance.

Sending Kara a look, Lena scribbles her response: _pay attention_. She doesn’t bother passing it back – Kara’s eyes are tilted down at the paper – but she ends up wishing she had because Kara leans more into Lena’s space to read the words and she catches another inhale of spicy fresh scent and Kara’s arm brushes across Lena’s shoulder.

Kara lets out a noise, but reaches over to write under Lena’s words _this prof posts all his ppts_ Instead of continuing, Lena just scrunches the paper up in her hand and shoves it in her bag.

Kara stares a moment, and Lena can feel it even though she’s turned her eyes back to the powerpoint slide at the front of the room.

Seemingly undeterred, Kara rips a new piece of paper off her notebook and scribbles again. This time it’s: _ever been to marvin’s_

Marvin’s is a small little deli not far off campus and though Lena’s never been there she’s heard enough about it – its kitschy décor that hasn’t been updated since the 80s, the two dollar sandwich deals they have on weekdays during lunch and the fact that they deliver to campus until 4am.

 _no_ , Lena scribbles quickly under Kara’s question, but when Kara makes as if to write a followup, Lena scrunches the paper up again and glares at Kara to stop, finding only twinkling blue eyes and a smile in response.

“Trying to pick a date spot,” Kara whispers, leaning far too close in order to shield her voice – they’re in the back of a massive lecture hall with a professor that doesn’t really pay them any attention.

“During class?” Lena hisses back, this time not restraining herself from shoving against Kara’s body to get her to move away.

Kara laughs softly but does _finally_ remove her arm from across the back of Lena’s chair. “What’s your favorite food?” Kara tries again, and Lena rolls her eyes.

“If I tell you, will you shut up and pay attention?”

Making a motion as if zipping her lips, Kara nods.

Lena says the first thing that comes to mind, “Sushi,” and Kara keeps her end of the bargain, even if she makes a face at Lena’s choice that has Lena kicking her shin in retort.

\--

On Tuesday, Lena gets a text from Kara as she’s leaving the library to head for her car. 

_dunno if ur near south quad, but there’s a bunch of therapy rabbits if u feel like calming down for 10 secs. petted a rabbit named grumpy who was very soft and who reminded me of u babe <3 _

There’s an attached picture of a pen full of rabbits and Kara’s thumbs up in the foreground. Lena rolls her eyes before she responds, hovering in the atrium of the library.

_We’re breaking up._

It barely takes a second for Kara to respond. 

_i’m changing ur name in my phone to honey bunny_

Lena doesn’t bother responding. But she does give it five minutes and decide to turn around toward the South Quad. The longer she can avoid going home to hear her neighbors’ renovation the better. The rabbits do turn out to be very soft.

\--

Her mother calls on Wednesday as Lena’s getting ready to meet Jess and walk to Legends for trivia. It’s been two weeks of mostly avoiding her mother’s calls and ignoring her voicemails and Lena knows she has to face the music some time lest it only get worse.

It takes less than a minute of practiced pleasantries before Lillian brings up the _dreadful rumor she’s been hearing._

“A _hockey_ player?”

Lena feels a migraine come on at the shrill tone her mother has adopted. It reminds her of getting caught in the gardening shed with the chef’s daughter when she was sixteen. It had been nearly the same sentence. _Honestly, Lena, the help’s child?_

“Yes, that’s correct, mother.” She focuses on fishing through her closet for a good pair of heels to go with her skinny black jeans. 

“I thought perhaps Veronica had said as such in jest.”

The mention of Veronica makes Lena shove aside a pair of shoes a bit more violently than normal. “Does Veronica _know_ how to jest?” 

Lillian clicks her tongue disapprovingly and Lena can feel her hackles continue to rise. “If this is some kind of petty display to get a rise out of Veronica or – ”

“It’s not.” It kind of is. 

“How long has this been going on?”

Lena finally finds the pair of shoes she was looking for and drags them out of her closet. “Long enough,” she answers, keeping it vague and making a mental note to maybe nail down a few pertinent details they’d forgotten about later. 

“And I’m just hearing of it now? From Veronica no less.”

“Veronica should learn how to keep her mouth shut,” Lena snaps, irritated with the constant gossip wheel and Lillian’s unwavering affection for her ex-girlfriend.

“She’s concerned for you,” Lillian says only making Lena’s irritation worsen. “I keep trying to tell you how much she obviously cares for you still.”

“Yes, she really showed how much she cared when she was sleeping around behind my back.”

Lillian makes a scoffing noise as if scandalized by the very _true_ accusation. “People make mistakes, Lena.”

Before Lillian can spend the next twenty minutes trying to convince Lena that Veronica is worthy of a second chance, Lena goes for the heart of the phone call. “It doesn’t matter. I’m with Kara now and we’re very happy. She’s in the other room, too busy hockeying to come to the phone.” 

“And yet you’ve been keeping her a secret this entire time.”

Lena does her best to keep _most_ of her personal life secret from her mother, but she knows now is not the time to mention that. “It’s pretty new, mother. I didn’t want to get her subjected to the Inquisition.” 

“Kara, is it? Does she have a last name?”   

“Why? So you can stalk her from your ivory tower?”

“You should mind your manners when you speak to me, Lena,” Lillian says in that superior tone Lena’s heard her own voice shape one or twice. It makes the back of her neck itch.

Knowing that arguing will just prolong the call, Lena’s voice goes small as she lets out a soft, but still slightly snarky, “Sorry, mother.”

There’s a long pause, as if Lillian is well aware Lena’s apology isn’t quite sincere, but thankfully she seems disinclined to comment.

“You’ll bring her to Thanksgiving,” Lillian says brusquely. It’s the kind of order Lena knows there’s no sense in protesting.

Not that she gets the chance with the way her mother hangs up the call immediately after.

\--

“My mother wants to know how long we’ve been dating,” Lena says the next day as she strides into Kara’s room for their tutoring session and throws her backpack heavily against the wood of Kara’s desk. “And Jess asked me what your major was last night, and I couldn’t remember.”

Kara’s hanging off the end of her bed tossing a tennis ball at the wall and wearing an obnoxious tank top that reads _USA Drinking Team_ across the front. “You told your mom?” Kara asks, catching the ball and sitting up.

“Veronica told her about your little display at the bar, like I told you she would.”

Kara makes a face, hums a bit before going back to chucking the ball against the wall. “Yikes.”

“So we need an answer,” Lena says, exasperatedly swatting the ball away from Kara before she can catch it. It bounces away into a pile of dirty laundry in the corner of Kara’s room and Kara sits up, twisting to better face Lena.

“I don’t know, a month maybe? Two?” Kara squints at Lena like she’s looking for something and it makes Lena feel squirmy. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Lena dismisses. “Just irritated my mother is badgering me about my fake relationship and I don’t have answers to completely fundamental questions like how long we’ve been dating.”

“Fake dating,” Kara clarifies and though there’s tease in her smile, Lena’s glare does the job of flicking it away. “Sorry.”

With an exasperated puff of breath, Lena sits down at Kara’s desk, shoving away a pair of discarded sweatpants towards the pile of laundry before she does. “We need answers to these questions. Especially if we start seeing people socially."

It looks very much like Kara’s trying hard not to laugh. “Seeing people socially,” she says in a dry tone. “So, hanging out?”

Ignoring the tease, Lena pulls her laptop out of her bag. “Answers, Kara,” she says, but there’s something about the way Kara bites at her lip to keep from laughing that has Lena softening even if she should be irritated.

“Right, yeah, sorry, boss,” Kara says with an exaggerated show of sitting up straight and paying attention. “Okay. We met for a tutoring session, had class together, and we decided to give it the old college try.”

“Alright, so you asked me out and I, mysteriously, said yes,” Lena mutters. She has an urge to write this down, but a little voice in her head that sounds suspiciously like Lex tells her there shouldn’t be a paper trail.

“No _way_ would I have asked you out,” Kara insists, incredulous sounding as she unscrews the cap to a nearby water bottle and takes a long pull.

Lena scoffs, offended by the sound of Kara chuckling. “I’ll have you know I get asked out all the time.”

Technically not true – Lena knows she can come off as relatively unapproachable – but she does just fine when she wants to. If she had any interest in getting laid, it certainly wouldn’t be hard and for Kara to act otherwise –

“Oh, I believe that,” Kara says, laughter dropping off into something more warm and liquid that has Lena softening against her will. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then how _did_ you mean it?”

“No it’s like – ” Kara chuckles again, sounds a bit like she’s at a loss for words as she gestures aimlessly at Lena. “You look like that and I look like this.”

“Oh, so because I’ve actually done laundry this month, you wouldn’t dare – ”

“Lena,” Kara interrupts, still with that insufferable laughter that has Lena’s lips pressing together. “We’ve talked about this. I know you know how pretty you are.”

There it is again. That little flip in her gut that Lena seems incapable of stopping. The casual way Kara’s smile somehow cuts into the core of her and makes Lena actually _feel_ pretty. They _have_ talked about this and it’s no news that Lena’s hot, but for whatever stupid reason Lena feels a warmth scratch up her neck once again.

“Not sure what that has to do with anything,” she murmurs, affecting as irritated a tone as she can.

“Trust me when I tell you that no one is going to buy that _I_ was the one that did the asking out. I’m like historically terrible at talking to pretty girls.” Kara’s laugh is self-deprecating this time in a charming way. “Like my family would not buy that at all. No way. They wouldn’t think I would have the balls to shoot for someone so far out of my league.”

It must be the muted smell of dirty laundry and Febreeze that’s going to Lena’s head because she nearly blurts out _you’re hot enough for me_ like an idiot. “Under that logic, should I just assume you’ve never asked _anyone_ out?”

Hand to her chest in a fake look of pain, Kara lets out a wheeze of a laugh. “Damn, Lena, ouch. That’s your girlfriend you’re talking about.”

Lena rolls her eyes. “We need a convincing story and you’re making me feel like that’s impossible to contrive.”

Kara shrugs, unconcerned as she crosses her legs underneath her. “I’ve heard that the best lie is the closest to the truth.”

“The truth being?”

“What I said before. That you got paired with me as a tutor and one thing led to another because I’m just so incredibly charming and you’re weak for hot hockey players and – ”

The words get lost after starts to throw discarded clothing in Kara’s direction, but they’re both laughing, and Lena _hates it_.

Honestly.

She does.

\--

“Okay so we’ve been together a little over a month after _you_ ,” Lena pointedly emphasizes the word at Kara, “asked me out after a tutoring session.” 

Kara hums agreement even if it still sounds like it comes with significant reluctance. 

“Why’d you ask me out?” Lena asks. Kara rolls her eyes.

“Because I’ve been sort of into you for the past two years and getting to know you a little better convinced me to at least give it a shot,” Kara says, repeating their rehearsed story back to Lena. “Why’d you say yes?”

“I was intrigued by how nice you were when I originally thought you were a douche,” Lena says. “What’s your favorite thing about me?”

“Who’s asking?” Kara asks, raising an eyebrow and waggling it around. Lena tosses a balled up piece of paper Kara’s way. “I don’t know, uh. How smart you are?”

“Where was our first date?” Lena asks.

“We went to the park and had coffee,” Kara says. They had agreed on keeping that somewhat close to reality. “And then you kissed me first, probably.”

The reminder of the physical aspect of this whole deal settles in Lena’s mind suddenly. Having Kara draped all over her in class was something she could get used to after much practice and probably some nose-plugging. Holding hands was sweaty and weird, but whatever. But she hadn’t stopped to consider kissing, hadn’t really considered that Jack and Jess know full well that after a few rum-and-diets she’s likely to try to mount someone at a party. Or that people in college had little-to-none in the way of PDA control.

It doesn’t help that the idea of kissing Kara doesn’t immediately make her recoil. Weird, sure, but not…disgusting.

“Because you don’t have the balls,” Lena says, clearing her throat.

“Right,” Kara says, glancing out the window. “No balls. That’s me.”

“But enough balls to tell my ex-girlfriend to fuck off when you barely knew her,” Lena says. Kara laughs a little, shrugging.

“Yeah, but someone with a brain might’ve tried to hit on you after scaring her off,” Kara says. “If they had managed to get a word in with all your yelling, maybe.”

“I wasn’t yelling,” Lena says, rolling her eyes and reaching for her textbooks to pack up.

“Lecturing,” Kara says.

Lena decides to settle for _lecturing,_ lest she actually start yelling right now. 

\--

The Jackrabbits have a home series against the Blainesdale Whitetails that weekend and Lena wakes up Saturday morning with a text from Kara telling her she should come to the game that night.

Lena doesn’t want to do that. Not at all.

There’s a party at Jack’s that night and she likes the slow crawl of her Saturday mornings leading up to the hectic energy of the night. The idea of spending her pre-game time sitting in a packed arena watching hockey with a bunch of drunk college students isn’t exactly appealing.

But she also knows she needs to attend _some_ games if they’re going to really pull this off and this is a relatively harmless activity in the grand scheme of things. It’s not as awful as sitting in Kara’s room with her or having to spend a meal together. Kara won’t even really be there – not technically. She’ll get all the credit of doing something for Kara without actually having to see her.

Maybe if she does this she can convince Kara into stopping by Jack’s party afterward. Two birds, one stone. Rip the band-aid off so to speak.

Which is what has her reluctantly agreeing, and in turn cajoling Jess into joining her.

“Are we even good?” Jess asks as they make their way to the Warren – The Argo Center, officially, but students never call it that. “The hockey team I mean.” 

“We won four three in overtime last night,” Lena tells her, having looked up the score earlier that afternoon.

“Is that good?”

Lena shrugs, laughs. “Winning is winning.”

The place is fairly full by the time they get inside. The facility is relatively old, but in that way that’s considered too classic now to really renovate it. It means that it feels more cramped than a newer stadium might, despite fitting the same amount of people and it makes the cheers from the designated student section boom loudly across the ice. She remembers vaguely coming here on a tour during orientation and Jack whispering that it smelled like wet socks.

Which it does. But whatever.

The band plays the fight song over and over again from their little section next to the students and Lena has to hover near Jess to hear her talking.

“Is that Mike?” Jess asks, bumping into Lena’s shoulder as she gestures with a nod of her head.

“Who?” Lena asks, scanning the crowd of jostling bodies. Jess gestures towards a shirtless guy pounding on the glass so violently Lena’s a bit concerned he’s going to smash right through it. The boys and girls around him look similarly hyped, jostling him and cheering him on.

“Mike, of the abs? Son of a Senator?” Jess clarifies significantly like that’s not an incredibly common name with a relatively common background in their friend group. When she glances at her friend, Jess is readjusting her shirt to expose more of her cleavage and Lena laughs, rolling her eyes.

“You’re shameless.”

Jess doesn’t deny it, just shrugs a shoulder unapologetically.

“You could do with a little more shameless,” she says, shoving at Lena’s arm as they find an acceptable row in the back of their section. “You’re a puck bunny now after all. It’s practically the name of the game.”

“What is? And don’t call me that.”

“Tits out,” Jess explains, gesturing to herself and then unabashedly pointing at a girl they pass who is indeed fully tits out, with some numbers painted on said tits. Lena recognizes Kara’s number painted right over her heart and rolls her eyes. 

Kara’s text this morning had offered for Lena to come pick up one of Kara’s jerseys - _all the so’s do it -_ but the thought of wearing a sweaty, hot jersey basically proclaiming her as Kara’s so-called significant other had bothered her. Looking at the girls and boys trying to flag down their favorite players makes her wish, a little, that she had accepted.

Lena doesn’t comment other than shaking her head at her friend half amused, half exasperated at the crass expression.

The game starts soon after they’ve squeezed into a spot amongst their classmates. The Jackrabbits and Whitetails are lined up across from each other and Lena spots Kara immediately where she’s hunching towards center ice in anticipation of the puck drop.

“Your girl’s a starter,” Jess muses, the amusement in her voice clear enough as she glances at Lena. “Could be worse.”

Honestly, Lena hadn’t really known for sure what line Kara was on – if she’d be starting the game or even what position she played. But she’s happy to see Kara lined up across from a Whitetails player and quickly and brutally winning the draw. The puck settles on another player’s stick – Leslie, Lena thinks as she tries to read the names and numbers on the jersey – and play moves fast.

Lena’s grateful for how action packed hockey can be. She isn’t sure what she’d have done if Kara was a softball player.

“Of course she is,” Lena says to Jess as they watch the Jackrabbits take the puck up the ice away from them.

It makes Jess laugh. “As if anything less would drag you to the Warren on a Saturday.”

Lena hums her agreement, internally pleased with something that sounds like approval form Jess. She’s thinking of something to add, something clever and familiar about Kara maybe, when she spots a familiar spot of brown hair a few rows in front of them.

“Fucking hell,” she mutters when she recognizes who it is, and Jess must hear her because she cranes her neck around to follow Lena’s gaze.

“Is that – ?”

The name gets choked out of Jess’s throat the minute Veronica turns around to look straight at them as if she could feel their attention. It makes Lena’s blood boil, her stomach flipping unpleasantly.

With a sardonic smile, Veronica gives them a little wave that Lena does _not_ return.

“Since when does Veronica watch sports?” Jess murmurs when they both pointedly look away from her and back towards the game.

“Since I started dating Kara, I’m sure,” Lena says, happy in some small part that Veronica’s presence here means she’s bought into the lie. Even if she’s probably spying for Lillian.

“She knows?”

For a moment she considers mentioning they’d run into each other at Hive, but decides that’s not worth the story and settles on a simple, “Yup.”

Jess blows out an unimpressed breath. “What a fucking stalker,” she says, teasing enough that Lena laughs.

A loud thud precedes the image of Kara getting pinned against the boards right in front of their section. She can just make it out over the heads of the students in front of her, but the jumbotron suspended over the ice shows it clear enough. 

Despite Kara’s hips moving around for positioning and her skates working hard, the two Whitetails players jabbing at the puck are successful in their mission and manage to wedge it free from under her, chucking it down the ice to another player who takes it out of the zone.

Instead of pursuing the play into the defensive zone, though, Kara whaps the ice in frustration with her stick as she takes a fairly leisurely skate back to the bench. Someone comes scrambling over the wall to replace her, but the Whitetails have already turned a shot on goal. Even from here, Lena can see Kara’s coach lean down next to her and point vigorously down the ice.

Down at the glass, a still shirtless Mike has started up a very loud and boisterous chant of RUN RABBITS RUN that Jess gets wrapped up in and eventually manages to get Lena to do. Though not without some protest.

\--

The game isn’t terrible, if Lena’s honest. Hockey is interesting enough and Lena’s understanding of the game deep enough to keep her attention. The score stays close until late in the third period when the Whitetails manage to score two goals in five minutes.

Despite the loss, Kara plays well as far as Lena can tell. She’s on the ice for both of the Jackrabbits’ goals and even tallies an assist on the first – a perfect breakout pass to Leslie as she’s skating out of the penalty box. But there are still some small moments of what Lena might call laziness – a bad pass here, an icing there.

But Lena’s certainly no expert – her knowledge of the game is derived primarily from attending Metropolis Mammoths games when she was younger and Luthor Corp had just begun their sponsorship deal. Her father had explained some intricacies of the game, but that was ages ago – sometimes it feels like a lifetime.

The loss clearly has the players dejected as they give a half-hearted salute to the students from center ice with their sticks raised in the air. Lena watches as Kara lingers behind her team, grabbing ahold of Nia - who was apparently the starting goalie - and talking to her a little away from the rest of the team, knocking their helmeted heads together.

There’s a girl next to Lena absolutely screaming Kara’s name as if it will get her attention, as if the sound isn’t lost in the cacophony of other students yelling at players as well. With a wincing look at Jess over the decibel of the screaming, they both turn to file out of the arena.

“You know, hockey players lose their teeth a lot,” Jess says offhand as they get out of the arena and into the chilly autumn air.

Lena laughs, shoves Jess a little. “Gross.”

“Seriously, have you thought about that in your decision to date her? Like, she’s going to lose her teeth,” Jess continues, smiling at the face Lena makes. “Think about it. You’re on your back and it’s good, but then you look up and there’s this toothless –”

Just as Lena’s about to shut her friend up with another disgusted laugh and a harder shove, a cool, distinctive voice breaks through their conversation.

“Lena,” Veronica says, appearing before them as if out of thin air. Jess practically jumps back with a hiss that Lena does her best to ignore in favor of staring straight into Veronica’s icy gaze with her chin lifted.

“Veronica,” she replies, the name dropping off her tongue like it’s something foul tasting.

“Your…” Veronica pauses unnaturally, a hint of a smirk at her lips. “Girlfriend played adequately. You must be so proud. Bit of a lovable loser, isn’t she?”

“Didn’t take you for a hockey fan,” Lena replies, barely resisting from spitting out the words testily. Veronica can’t have an advantage.

“I suppose it makes sense you’d need an athlete’s kind of skill and stamina to please you,” Veronica says, ignoring Lena’s jab and smiling smarmily. “Though this Kara seems too much of a goon to really do the job well.”

Lena doesn’t even _care_ about Kara enough to be offended by the insult, but the face Veronica is making as she says it makes Lena clench her fists. For a moment it looks like Veronica might step in closer, might invade Lena’s personal space and Jess must notice because she can sense her friend shifting closer. Thankfully Mike, bare-chested and screaming, comes barreling through the crowd screaming RUN RABBITS RUN like they just won.

It starts a bit of a frenzy that Jess takes advantage of – thank _God_ because Lena was about seconds away from karate chopping her ex-girlfriend – by pulling Lena through crowd and away from Veronica.

\--

After the game, Jess abandons Lena with the excuse of needing to change for the party and Lena’s left waiting for Kara alone. She doesn’t _have_ to wait for Kara of course, but Jess looks at her a bit oddly when Lena suggests not doing so and now she’s stuck here just _waiting_.

Whatever. She has to convince Kara to come to Jack’s anyway, better to do that in person.

Plus, there are still some lingering nerves from her run-in with Veronica and it feels nice to idle in the stillness of the quickly emptying front plaza of the arena and just sit.

It takes _forever_ for Kara to emerge from the arena, but she eventually does, packed in the middle of a few of her housemates. Lena feels foolish immediately because they made no plans to meet up after the game and it’s clear she’s waiting on Kara which is just…not something Lena Luthor does and honestly why didn’t she think this through?

The team looks a bit downtrodden, silent as they pace away from the doors. Kara in particular has her head focused on her shoes, but somehow manages to look up just as Lena stands. Their eyes connect and Lena tries to act like she wasn’t just contemplating fleeing the scene.

With a soft word to her teammates, Kara breaks away from them to beeline towards Lena. Behind her, the other girls are whispering to each other, looking at Lena with looks somewhere between confusion and amusement. 

“Shooters shoot!” one of the girls yells after Kara - Lena’s not sure which one - and Kara lazily flips them off without looking. 

Kara’s not dressed as Lena’s used to. Instead, she’s in a respectable pair of light wash jeans and a dark blue oxford shirt with a little Jackrabbit on the breast pocket.

“I didn’t know you owned something without holes in it,” Lena comments as her eyes drag up Kara’s body. It does very little to affect the sullen look on Kara’s face and Lena tries very hard not to care about that. It’s just a bit jarring not to have Kara laughing at her like she usually is.

“Athletic Department mandated gameday outfit,” Kara replies, holding her hands out at her side as if for inspection. Lena has an urge to reach out and tug at a couple creased spots, but manages to hold her hands away. There’s a quirk to Kara’s lips, but that’s it before her mouth sets back into a subtle frown, her shoulders drawn in.

Maybe it’s the relative privacy of where they’re standing, or the chill night air, or Lena trying to be a halfway decent human being to her fake girlfriend, but she feels compelled to ask, “Are you okay?”

It makes Kara laugh this time, but it’s an off sound and accompanied by a shrug. “Not a fan of losing,” she says, eyes darting around and digging her hands into her pockets. “I’m sorry your first game had to be a loss.”

Before Lena can reply, Kara continues, looking away. “I didn’t know you were going to wait for me, sorry, I would have hurried up out of the locker room, but I know you didn’t really want to be here in the first place and –”

Lena raises her hand to halt the sudden outburst of emotion. “I just hung around to see if you’d want to go to Jack’s party with me tonight.”

Truth be told, Lena hung around to _tell_ Kara she was coming to Jack’s party, but when faced with the despondent way Kara blinks down at her, Lena feels her edges softening imperceptibly.

“Oh,” Kara says softly, her eyes connecting with Lena’s. “A party?”

“Yeah, Jack’s normal Saturday party,” Lena says, trying to sound detached and impatient, but feeling offput by the look in Kara’s face. “We talked about them Thursday.”

“Yeah, you’re right, sorry,” Kara says.

“Stop saying sorry,” Lena says with a slight roll of her eyes.

“Sorry.”

At least Kara laughs at that, a little chuckle as she adjusts her glasses and Lena has to swallow at the purely biological response her body has to the obviousness of Kara’s well-toned body under a somewhat structured shirt.

They smile at each other though, Lena not noticing she’s returning the expression until Kara’s grin widens and she sighs, forcing it off her face.

“Jack’s party,” Kara says, nodding as if mustering some resolve.

It must be something in the air. Or the dejected way Kara’s shoulders still sit even if she’s putting on a good show of acting normal again, but Lena finds herself resistant suddenly in taking Kara to Jack’s. It could also be the leftover emotions from seeing Veronica and knowing Jess has surely gone and spilled all the beans to Jack and she’ll have _that_ to unpack when she arrives at the house, but _whatever_ it is, she ends up saying:

“Well, I can’t take you there if you’re going to act like a kicked puppy all night.”

Kara straightens, her lips thinning and she gets half of a _sorry_ out before she rolls her eyes. “I’ll be fine by the time we get there.”

Lena considers a moment before making a decision. “I can’t trust that,” she says, trying not to sound so affected by Kara’s mood. “Come on, my car’s here. We’ll go get something to eat instead, be seen amongst the postgame crowds. Are you hungry?”

The mention of food lights something up in Kara’s eyes and Lena catalogs the small spike of victory she gets in her stomach when she sees it. “I am, actually,” Kara admits, smiling enough to lift some of the shadow off her face. “But I know I said I’d go to Jack’s parties. You came to my game and that’s…part of the deal, right?”

“Yeah, it is,” Lena says. “But I can’t bring you there like this. They’ll think I yelled at you or something and you’re in a mood about being there. Jack throws a party every week, it can wait.”

Kara looks to protest again, but Lena cuts her off, moving past her and pulling her along by the sleeve of her shirt. There’s enough streetlights on and enough people still milling about and doing a poor job of pretending they’re not drinking in the parking lot that Lena doesn’t immediately tug away when Kara grabs her hand.

\--

They fight about where to eat in the car – it seems once Kara’s accepted that they’re not going to the party and are in fact in search of food, she has a _lot_ of opinions on where to go. Those opinions include fried food and a complete lack of any truly healthy greens.

Lena has some immediate regret about suggesting she take Kara out for food, but she’s stuck between knowing she can’t show up to Jack’s solo and that having Kara there in a bad mood isn’t a great alternative.

They end up at some shitty diner popular with drunk college students after bar close. Thankfully they’re hours away from the drunken rush so the diner is filled with locals and the occasional smart student packing away carbs to combat the weekend drinking fest.

By the time Kara’s gigantic stack of pancakes, plate of chicken tenders and milkshake have arrived, her mood has shifted considerably, and Lena feels any unease or regret about her decision start to ebb away from her. 

“That seriously sucked,” Kara grumbles, almost to herself as she shovels fries into her mouth. 

Lena makes a face at the way the words sound around the food she’s chewing. “What? The game?”

Kara makes a noise. “I played like fucking shit.”

“You weren’t that bad,” Lena tells her, playing idly with the cheap fork under her fingers. It’s true. Kara played a bit lazy and over-emotional, sure, but _shit_ is a bit harsh. “You had an assist and you won a lot of your face-offs.”

When Kara swallows and looks up, her face looks considerate, a hint of amusement playing on her lips. “You know things about hockey?”

Lena rolls her eyes. “Things,” she says dryly, taking a prim sip of her diet soda.

“Wouldn’t peg you for a sport-o,” Kara says, leaning back in the booth and pulling apart a chicken tender as she goes.

“You don’t know me very well.”

“Yeah,” Kara laughs. “I’m trying to change that, _honey bunny_. But it’s like pulling teeth with you.”

There’s a pointed look as Kara says that and Lena sighs, still resistant to opening up to anyone, let alone some dirty jock she’s pretending to date. “I’ve been to a hockey game before. Once or twice. When I was younger.”

More like dozens of times, but that’s an unnecessary detail.

It makes Kara laugh though, her eyes bright and at a contrast to the way she’d first looked after the game. With her hair freshly washed and falling over her shoulders, it’s hard for Lena to ignore that Kara’s relatively attractive. If not for her personality, Lena might even consider her _hot_.

“Three times if you count tonight,” Kara teases and Lena smiles thinly, but doesn’t laugh.

They’re quiet a moment before Lena finds herself saying, “I ran into Veronica tonight, actually.”

It comes out before she can stop it and she doesn’t know _why_ she’s telling Kara of all people, but the urge to talk about it, unpack it, feels like it’s beating its way out of her chest. The fact that Veronica can still get under her skin just by being in the same building makes Lena feel like punching something.

Kara goes still, a careful soft look on her face as she sits back up and regards Lena for a second. “You did?”

Lena hums affirmatively. “She was at the game and then I ran into her on the way out.”

“She say something fucked up again?”

Lena sighs. “She always has something fucked up to say,” she admits and perhaps it’s that Kara doesn’t know her, doesn’t know Veronica or anything about their relationship, that has her more comfortable in talking about this than she might be with Jess or Jack. “Even when we were dating.”

“How long were you guys together?” Kara asks, the words careful, like if she’s too loud she’ll startle Lena.

“Long enough,” Lena replies, still hating how much time she wasted on someone that was just never going to love her the way she secretly craved. “We were kind of off and on for a few years.”

“She seemed like a bitch,” Kara says bluntly, plucking fries into her mouth. “The one time I met her.” 

It makes Lena laugh. “She _is_ a bitch.” Lena tilts her head to the side a bit, conceding. “But so am I, so I guess we were kind of made for each other.”

Kara clicks her tongue. “You’re not a bitch,” she says, but the words sound thin and when Lena gives her a _don’t lie_ look they both laugh. “Different kind of bitch, maybe?”

“I’m not sure that’s better,” Lena says dryly.

“Just trying to be nice,” Kara adds, holding up a hand defensively.

“You don’t have to be nice to me,” Lena says, rolling her eyes at Kara’s chuckle. “No one important is in here to see us right now.”

“Sorry, habit,” Kara jokes and she leans over the table like she’s about to divulge a secret, her voice lowered. “I tend to just be nice to my girlfriends, fake or otherwise. I know that must be new to you.”

Lena kicks her hard enough in the shins that Kara nearly chokes on a fry.

\--

It’s actually pleasant, Lena thinks, as they sit there across from each other and finish their food. The conversation flows naturally though it’s peppered with teasing and insults that seem to be losing their bite the more Lena hangs around Kara.

“What does Lena Luthor do for fun, anyway?” Kara asks as she’s stacking her empty plates up and pushing them towards the corner of the table.

Lena cups her hands around her glass and shrugs, unsure how to answer that. “I don’t have much time for hobbies,” she says, knowing that getting plastered with her friends every Saturday isn’t exactly the most meaningful answer to that question.

“That can’t be true.”

Lena lifts a shoulder. “Not all of us are half-rate hockey players that sit around playing video games all day.”

“I don’t play video games,” Kara laughs, but then seems to consider it a moment. “Well not all day at least. I do other stuff.”

Arching a brow, Lena takes a sip of her drink to hide her smile at the dusting of pink in Kara’s cheeks. “Like what?”

“Stuff,” Kara answers, seeming just as baffled by the question as Lena was and just like that they’re both laughing.

Lena’s not sure when it went from Kara laughing at her near constantly to the two of them laughing _together_ and as she attempts to stifle the sounds coming from her mouth she’s not sure she likes it.

\--

“Thanks for this,” Kara says as they walk back out to Lena’s car.

“For what?”

Kara’s expression is inscrutable, her smile mysterious. “Just. Thanks.”

Lena thinks to press the issue, but before she can, someone she doesn’t know is passing by them and raising a stiff hand in greeting. 

“Kara, hello,” the guy says, his voice almost mechanical sounding. He’s got longer black hair pushed back. For half a second, Lena thinks he’s LARPing as Spock or something, based on the way he places his hands behind his back. “I wished to express my sorrow for your loss earlier today.”

“Brainy!” Kara says, jovial. “Thanks, man. I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Miss Nal suggested that I might enjoy it,” he says. “I did enjoy the statistical information, but I suppose I did not enjoy the barbarism as much. Perhaps we can discuss it over a meal sometime. And I do apologize for interrupting you and your companion.”

“Oh, shit, sorry, this is Lena,” Kara says, throwing an arm around Lena’s shoulders and pulling her in so that they’re pressed together at the side. Lena smiles as wide as she can manage, tucking into the warmth of Kara. “My, uh, girlfriend.”

“Lena Luthor, correct?” Brainy says. It almost sinks Lena’s stomach, until he keeps talking with an amusing speed. “Miss Nal mentioned you had a mysterious friend, but I had not realized she was the genius behind the hologram technology Dr. Yvette is experimenting with. Congratulations on your romantic partnership, Kara. And you as well, Lena.”

“Thanks,” Lena says. She can’t help the smile on her face - it’s the first time Lena’s run into someone on a Saturday night and not been reminded of her last name without the attachment of money or influence.

“Lena, this is Brainy,” Kara says. “We met freshman year in a ballroom dancing class and he broke three of my toes.”

“Kara exaggerates,” Brainy says. “I broke two, and only because she was out of step.”

“I can imagine that,” Lena says. Kara huffs, but keeps her arm around Lena’s shoulders. “Nice to meet you, uh. Brainy?”

“It’s a nickname,” Brainy says. “But one I have gained affection for. Pleasure meeting you as well. I will see the two of you around?”

“Hell yeah,” Kara says, reaching out for a high five that Brainy returns in a questioning fashion. Lena lets herself get guided away from the man, surprised that they’ve managed to go through an interaction with another human being as purported girlfriends and that they weren’t immediately doubted. 

She unlocks her car as they approach, and Kara jogs a little ahead to pop open the driver’s door for Lena, shutting it gently when she’s slid into her seat. 

“He was nice,” Lena says, after Kara’s settled into the passenger seat.  

“Yeah, you think that because he called you a genius,” Kara says, her hand settling behind Lena’s headrest as she stretches out in the seat. “You love a good compliment.”

“Maybe my girlfriend should be giving me more of them,” Lena says airily. Kara laughs loudly, and when she reaches over to adjust Lena’s radio to crank some country song she’s never heard of, Lena doesn’t mind all that much.

\--

For the first time on a Saturday in ages, Lena’s home and in bed around midnight and she’s _sober_. She wonders what her friends are up to and just the thought of having to push her way through the crowd at some bar right now exhausts her. 

As she’s settling under her covers, she checks her phone. There are a few texts from Jess and Jack and a couple from Winn, all different ways of asking her where she is and when she’s coming out. As she’s replying, a new message comes through. 

_thanks for saving me from this_

It’s from Kara and attached to the text is a picture that Lena can’t help but laugh at. It’s clearly the Hockey Haus and though it had seemed relatively quiet when Lena had dropped Kara off there earlier, there had clearly been a party. There are beer cans stacked in a pyramid on the living room coffee table and on the couch is a very passed out Leslie Willis. 

It’d look relatively harmless if the picture wasn’t clear enough to show that Leslie’s face has been drawn all over with Sharpie. There’s a particularly graphic picture of genitals on her cheek. It makes Lena laugh, a bit horrified. 

 _that could have been you_ , she texts back and Kara’s response is an immediate: _i know_ with a long series of laughing emojis. 

 _you live in a house of barbarians_  

Another picture comes through and this time it’s of Kara’s bedroom door. It takes a second for Lena to recognize what looks so different about it but when she does she lets out a second horrified gasp. It looks like someone’s taped condoms all over Kara’s door in a series of multi-colored shapes. 

 _i am aware_ , Kara texts back.  

\--

Jack and Jess are both immeasurably grumpy with her when she arrives at Jack’s doorstep Sunday morning with a bag of muffins and coffee. Whether it’s because she missed the party last night or because she’s not hungover like the two of them are, she’s not sure.

“You’re the worst,” Jack says, but he grabs at the bag of food greedily. “I love you, but I also hate you.”

Lena shoves him back inside towards the living room and even though she’s not in any kind of state like her two friends, takes her usual position on the couch and uncaps the bottle of ibuprofen on the coffee table when Jess groans out in pain.

“Where were you all night?” Jess asks in a huff, kicking her feet out against Lena’s thigh and taking a long pull of water.

“With Kara,” Lena answers, shifting down on the couch and avoiding the feel of Jack and Jess both staring at her.

“Thought you’d bring her to the party,” Jack says, sounding almost like he’s challenging her.

“She had a rough night, we got something to eat and went home.” Lena’s not even lying so she doesn’t know why her cheeks feel hot, but Jess is looking at her critically and Jack waggles his eyebrows up and down like she’s implying something else went on.

“Is this going to be a thing again?” Jack asks, rearranging pillows under his head.

“Is what?”

“You ditching us for sex,” Jess supplies and Lena lets out a scandalized sound.

“That’s not what happened,” she says, but she acknowledges there’s no harm in letting them think that – protest just enough so it seems true.

“Judging by the look on your face, that’s exactly what happened,” Jack chortles and Lena rolls her eyes.

It couldn’t be farther from the truth so Lena doesn’t know why heat is creeping up her neck and clawing at her throat.

She thinks of the way Kara smelled after the game, the fresh scent of her that got trapped in the small front seat of Lena’s car. She thinks of the way Kara softened as the night went on, how her frown turned into soft laughs as she devoured far all the food on her plate. She thinks especially of the way Kara smiled at her when Lena drove her back to the Hockey Haus and the quiet way she said, “See you Monday.”

It’s a series of benign, meaningless, stupid little things and yet Lena feels protective over the entire thing, like she doesn’t want her crass friends to have any part of it.

“A lady doesn’t kiss and tell,” is what she settles on which just sends Jack into another series of laughs that has Jess joining in along with him and Lena throwing a pillow at her when she asks, _okay, but who tops?_

\--

It’s not that Lena’s looking forward to seeing Kara on Monday in class, but she’s also not dreading it the way she might have before. It’s like something settled between them and everything feels just a step closer to comfortable. Like Lena attending a game and sharing a meal with Kara afterward made everything more real, more normal.

It’s not as startling to find a coffee already waiting for her when she slides into her seat and she even smiles at Kara when she does so.

“Extra shot americano,” Kara says proudly.

“So jocks _can_ learn,” Lena snarks, wrinkling her nose at the pleased laugh Kara lets out.

\--

Things go relatively well that week. She doesn’t run into Veronica again, doesn’t even have any phone calls from her mother. The Big Thick Roosters win trivia on Wednesday by one point and Kara’s room is actually marginally clean when Lena shows up there on Thursday for their tutoring session.

“Wow,” Lena comments upon seeing the folded clothes on Kara’s bed. “You actually did laundry.” 

“Figured you didn’t want to see me naked,” Kara says, spreading her arms out wide.  

Lena blinks, steadfastly refusing to linger on the image that immediately evokes and pushing it aside with an exasperated exhale. “How wise,” she deadpans to Kara’s laugh. 

“I’m glad you’re here actually,” Kara says as if they didn’t have a standing Thursday meeting. “I need to ask if you thought about Fall Break.”

“What about Fall Break?” Lena asks, sliding into her usual position at Kara’s desk and wondering if she should even bother pulling her laptop out of her bag. 

“Midvale. Coming home with me?” 

Right. She’d forgotten.

Perhaps purposefully, truth be told. 

Lena spares a thought for her incredibly important Fall Break plans of holing up in her apartment and doing _nothing_ . It’s one of the few breaks she’s not obligated to return home or attend a family gathering. It’s her _favorite_ break. 

“Why should I go with you to Midvale again?” Lena asks, already knowing Kara’s answer. 

“You could meet Eliza,” Kara reiterates like it’s not a Big Deal. 

“And you think we’re ready for that?” Lena asks. Kara shrugs.

“It’s the best opportunity,” Kara argues. “And it’ll be good practice for convincing people. She’s already asked that I bring you, I don’t want to disappoint her.” 

Pushing aside the knowledge that Kara’s been talking about her to her mother, Lena scoffs softly. “There are other breaks,” she points out and Kara makes a noise of acknowledgement.

“Do you still want to be dating me in December?” Kara counters, sounding far too logical and irritating Lena. “The sooner we get it done, the sooner we can break up.” 

“There’s no way we’re going to convince your _mother_ ,” Lena says, knowing next to nothing about Eliza, but knowing she’s just barely confident they could fool their friends much less family. 

Kara laughs. “I feel like I would know best, but if it makes you feel better, we have time to practice,” she says like Fall Break doesn’t start in a week. “It won’t be that hard and it’s not like Eliza has much to compare you to.” 

Lena blinks. “What do you mean?” 

Kara shrugs. “I’ve never really brought a girl home,” she admits, looking a little embarrassed by the admission.  

It’s all she can do not to laugh, but she rolls her eyes. “Well, what if I have other plans for fall break?” 

“Do you?” Kara says with an infuriating arch of her brow. 

“Yes,” Lena lies, just for the sake of protest. 

Kara just regards her a moment, her lips quirked up like she knows Lena well enough to see through the deception. “It’ll be fun, Lena,” Kara says, and Lena does not at all like the way her name sounds dropping off Kara’s tongue like that. “And we’ll have ten hours in a car together to prep for it all.” 

“Ten hours?!” Lena all but shouts, but Kara’s laughing at her and turning to her bedroom door. 

“I’m getting a drink from downstairs, do you want anything?” 

“Ten hours?” Lena just repeats incredulously, but Kara’s already headed for the door, like she knew she’d get a strongly worded lecture if she hung around. Just before she gets out the door, though, she pokes her head back through.

“By the way, there’s moose tracks in the fridge for you,” Kara says, nodding at her little mini-fridge. “I’ll get you a spoon.”

And then she leaves, jogging down the stairs very loudly, and Lena contemplates what, exactly, she’s got herself into.

\--

Though they argue about driving to Midvale for far too long - Lena insisting she could charter the Luthor private jet for the journey and Kara scoffing _a lot_ \- Kara finally convinces her. The week doesn’t drag along like Lena might have hoped, and instead the days pass quickly, sped up no doubt by knowing she’s going to be stuck in a car for ten hours and not knowing what that will bring. 

Lena’s a city girl, born and bred, and just the idea of leaving civilization for open pastures alone is making her itch. She’d gotten through one link in a Google session on Kara’s hometown before she had to shut her computer down and avoid thinking about it all together. 

The one thing she hadn’t thought to consider is which car in the array of vehicles outside the Hockey Haus might be Kara’s, but honestly, she should have known. 

They agree to skip that Thursday’s tutoring session and instead Lena arrives at the house on Friday morning to find Kara bent over the hood of the one beat up piece of junk pickup truck Lena’d wrinkled her nose at before. 

“I’m not getting in that death trap,” Lena greets, slamming the door of her car and walking across the lawn to where Kara’s working. 

“You planning on walking to Midvale then?” Kara jokes, slamming the hood down and wiping her hands on a towel. It’d be halfway attractive in a grungy way if Lena wasn’t chiefly concerned with getting stranded in the middle of nowhere because Kara’s driving a car held together by duct tape. 

“That thing looks like it’s not even going to get us out of the city limits,” Lena accuses. 

“She runs just fine,” Kara says as if the fond way she pats the car is reassuring. 

“Excuse me if I don’t take your word for it,” Lena says eyeing the dented passenger door with trepidation.  
  
“You’ll survive, pumpkin,” Kara says in that smug tone Lena’s starting to get far too familiar with. “Now where are your bags?” 

With a sigh of resignation, Lena gestures to her car, flipping Kara the keys. “The trunk, assface.” 

Kara has a far too pleased smile on her face as she moves away to go for Lena’s luggage and Lena runs another cursory glance over the car, kicking lightly at its front tire and already picturing the headline: _Luthor Heiress Found Dead In Small Town America_  

They heavy sound of Kara throwing her luggage haphazardly into the trunk pulls Lena’s thoughts away and she glares at Kara’s exaggerated look of exertion. “You pack enough?” Kara teases. 

Lena doesn’t answer other than wrenching the front door of the truck open and sliding inside. It’s an old enough truck that it has one seat in the cabin, and Lena rolls her eyes at the mess of stains and the occasional duct tape covering up holes. There’s a bobblehead of some hockey player Lena doesn’t know taped to the dash, and a gold necklace with a teardrop pendant draped on the rearview mirror. Lena’s reaching out to touch it when the driver’s side door pops open and Kara is handing over a bag full of snacks and water and Gatorade.

“You ready?” Kara asks, reaching up for her seatbelt and twisting the key in the ignition. The car gives an ominous sputter that has Lena wincing before its engine kicks in. 

“No,” she says, scoffing the word into the small cabin of the truck, but Kara just laughs. 

“It’ll be fine.” 

“Famous last words,” Lena points out, eyeing the hood of the truck like it might start smoking at any moment. “I think we may have underestimated how ridiculous this entire thing is.” 

Kara laughs again. “Which part? Pretending to date or going to Midvale?” 

“All of it.” 

In fact, the whole thing is starting to feel crazier and crazier as Kara shifts the truck into reverse and turns to look out the rearview. 

“It’ll be fine,” Kara repeats, glancing at Lena with a soft smirk. “You worry too much.” 

“You don’t worry enough,” Lena counters just making Kara laugh _again_. 

“Which makes us a perfect match,” Kara says brightly, punctuating it with a wink and Lena tries to roll her eyes at it, she does, but she ends up chuckling and looking away. 

And then they’re backing out of the driveway and heading out of town.  

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to yell at me on [tumblr](https://lynnearlington.tumblr.com/)


End file.
